Clash of the Elements Part 6: The Scars of the Sins Past
by mewmaster93
Summary: Everything has led up to this. Sealed away for two-thousand years, one of the Elemental Overlord's biggest threats has emerged from his cage thanks to the machinations of one of his successors gone mad. With the threat of both this prisoner gone free and the 'Phoenix of Destruction' looming across the universe itself, the struggle will push Mew and Riku to their limit. But then...?
1. Chapter 1

_Approximately 2000 years ago…_

In the skies above the northern arctic lands of the planet Earth, there is a city invisible to the naked human eye. It's Sancturia, the capital city of the mystical Aurians. The Aurians had come to the Earth with the guidance of the last descendant of the Ten Sages, Auris Aurora, and from here they planned to live their lives in peace. Within the grounds of this grand city lied a palace that housed the most powerful Aurian drive, the Neo Drive, which is capable of incredible feats and power to whoever is able to wield it.

The day such an event occurred would not happen for a couple thousand years, but such a thing is unknown and of no concern on the mind of the Neo Drive's current guardian, a towering man by the name of Damascus. Damascus wears a mythical vest with a white shirt underneath it that has green dragon-like marks and red cuffs on the sleeves. He also has blue and silver pants with an ancient design that one could say came from Feudal Japan…A curious thing considering such an era hasn't occurred yet on Earth. His face was sculpted like a middle-aged man, having few wrinkles and an imposing appearance, his hair black and tied up at the ends like dreadlocks.

Damascus walks across the city of Sancturia, being allowed a little time to take a break from his duties as the guardian of the Neo Drive, and the people of the city look at him and wave happily at his presence despite his imposing size and face. Even the children had no fear while looking towards the man, and he gave them smiles in return. After a few minutes of walking around town, Damascus paused and let out a sigh, the emotion behind it not easy to discern by anyone but himself.

"It's odd to be at a time of peace, isn't it?" A serene, feminine voice calls out to Damascus, his face flinching visibly for a moment before he turned to face the woman in question. She was the present Sage of the Aurians, Auris Aurora, and with her glistening shoulder length aquamarine hair with a large pink bang hanging close to her forehead and baggy aquamarine robe decorated with ancient pink clouds along with her baggy blue sweat jeans and wooden sandals she looked positively gorgeous on this fine day. Her crystalline blue eyes and youthful face only added to her splendor.

Auris stopped before Damascus and only had to look a little bit up due to being just a few inches shorter than him, and Damascus happily held his right hand in front of his chest and smiled before remarking "Lady Auris…You are looking well today…All things considered, that is." Auris brushed the side of her hair with a graceful raise of her right hand and remarked "You need not comfort me with kind words, Damascus."

"Fair enough…Then onto other affairs. It seems the people are adjusting well to the change in planets." Damascus remarked while looking around at his home, the people walking around happily. "It took about a month of interstellar travel, but reaching this planet Earth was a good endeavor. In time, our people can hopefully spread out across the world and adapt to life here…Far away from our brand of politic struggles and the wars we faced."

Damascus laid a hand to his chin and remarked "Are you sure it was a good idea to leave the other nine tribes behind like this? …Or was that something you already took into consideration with your ability to see the future?" Auris closed her eyelids and whispered to Damascus "The tribes will disappear in due time…At least without the Aurians around, we can ensure a lack of another grand scale war. The tribes' inability to co-exist with one another without the pull of the Elemental Overlord and the Dark King will lead to a lack of the creation of future generations."

"…Should we not still take into consideration the possibility of them uniting and trying to come after us for revenge?" Damascus pointed out, and Auris said while glancing at the ground and sighing "Damascus…I hope you are not insinuating that you should take the Neo Drive for yourself. You know only those of the Sages' bloodline can accept it, if the Neo Drive allows it, anyways…They made sure to put that restriction on it."

"I am only thinking of the safety of our people. Who is to say that the tribes cannot produce another Elemental Overlord? Another Dark King?" Damascus pointed out with some genuine concern in his voice, but Auris just smiled and pulled her head back to let out a rather cute laugh while laying her right knuckles underneath her chin, leading to her then remarking "As though the tribes could put aside their differences enough to create someone even close to my husband! I must admit, I see your reason for concern, but you accidentally made me feel humored instead, Damascus."

"…And yet what of other threats? To say that the Sages' bloodline is an absolute defense mechanism would be folly. There could be many other enemies of the Aurians out there ready to take the Neo Drive for themselves, and what better way to defend it than to give it to me so no ill person can use it?" Damascus remarked, and Auris took a moment to pause and let out a tired sigh before she looked the man in the eyes, raising a hand up to his right cheek and telling him with a relaxing tone "Damascus…I know you want the Neo Drive for yourself after all the Ten Sages did to keep you from it, but it's fine. You, the Planetary Aurians, and I are all that's needed to protect our people from threats…The Neo Drive need not get involved."

Damascus lowered his eyelids slightly and lifted a hand up to Auris' own, gently pulling it away while remarking "I was only thinking of our people, Lady Auris…You did quite a lot this last year, especially in light of the Elemental Overlord's passing…And I wish nothing more than to take this pressure off of your shoulders." Auris puts her hands into the folds of her sleeves and said while tilting her head slightly "Did I not tell you that you need not comfort me with kind words? I said that because that's what I foresaw you doing beyond that point in time…"

Damascus folded an arm before his chest and bowed slightly before asking "Then what must I do to ease your pain?" Auris closed her eyelids so Damascus could not read the deep emotions she was experiencing before she replied with as he looked on in puzzlement "Just keep being yourself as you are now…A protector of the people."

Damascus was surprised by such a remark, and Auris quickly turned around and remarked while brushing the side of her hair again "Now if you excuse me…I must make sure that my meeting with the Planetary Aurians goes well. It shall be the first time we'll be meeting, after all, and I want to make a good first impression." Auris then walked off, and Damascus simply stood in place and let out a bit of a sigh before he suddenly felt something strange in the air. A twinge of distortion grabbed his attention from behind, and as he turned around the atmosphere suddenly became covered in a warped color scheme, with everything but Damascus pausing in place as it happened.

The colors in the area remained inverted even as the distortion came to an end, and Damascus turned around while remarking "What's going on here?" He was clearly perturbed by the change in scenery, and it only took a moment for a swirling vortex to open up in front of Damascus as someone inside remarked in an adolescent but slightly raspy voice "Such a cutesy load of bullshit…I expected no other words from that wench."

Through the vortex emerged a boy wearing a mythical charred dark brown and red cloak, one that keeps his face covered in shadows. From the confines of his right sleeve his hand sticks out slightly with a black and gold stone clenched within it. The boy moved his head forward slightly so he could reveal his grin, followed up by him remarking as he stood a good distance away from Damascus "But that's what I am here for…Damascus."

Damascus paused for a moment and looked around, noticing that no one was moving besides him. Combined with the odd colors in the atmosphere and the stone in the boy's hand, Damascus quickly glared at them and remarked "Time is stopped…That strange stone…You're using the Gaia Temporis, aren't you?" The boy nodded his head in a few short bobs and said in an impressed tone "You are quite perceptive…"

"Then you are…The Elemental Overlord? …No, that's impossible, your voice and body do not match up…And your aura feels…" Damascus could only shiver as he looked at the boy's fierce dark red aura, and with a slight grit of his teeth he finished remarking with a single word "Agonizing…" "That observation does not matter. But yes…I am the Elemental Overlord…Or rather, his successor. I have traveled back in time to visit you, Damascus." The boy stated with little pause.

"His…Successor? I was told the Elemental Overlord's spirit passed on, and yet you inherited his powers? …Why would Lady Auris deceive me about such a thing?" Damascus remarked, his face wrought in confusion. The boy in the cloak slowly began to walk around Damascus while glancing his way, telling him bluntly as he did so "Is it really so surprising that you've been deceived by that wench…When this hasn't been the first time she's done so?"

As the boy walks behind Damascus, he tells him bluntly some more "Those words about want you to remain yourself? She doesn't say that out of respect, or camaderie…She fears you, Damascus. After all…Without her best Aurian drive, you are the strongest Aurian, especially with that Space Drive you swiped from the remains of the Ten Sages' chambers." Damascus laid a hand onto his Aurian bracelet and remarked with a suspicious look in his eyes "How…How do you know these things? Why would Lady Auris fear me?"

"Is it not clear? You think she just moved the city to get away from it all? The Ten Sages are all the same…And that goes for their descendants. Auris desires control…And she will use her own people to accomplish that task. Once they have relaxed enough, she will train the next generation, manipulate them into being conquerors…And she knows you will be more than opposed to these efforts. And it won't just be one generation…Because of her immortality, generation after generation will be manipulated…But you can do the complete opposite, in time, that is…"

After the boy finished speaking for a few seconds, Damascus remarked "The complete opposite…Whatever do you mean by that?" The boy swung his arms out as he turned to face Damascus, telling him fiercely "You can change this universe, Damascus! Use your great power to bring peace to all worlds! Use the Neo Drive to give your people a chance to become peaceful liberators as well! Defy the will of the Ten Sages…and become grander than them all! All you have to do is be patient…"

Damascus glared at the boy and told him while raising a hand to his chin "How far from the future are you, boy?" "Two-thousand years…Give or take. And in my time, you are still alive…Though as of yet, you are not capable of living that long. I can change that, however…" The boy stated while raising his right hand up and turning it around to reveal the Gaia Temporis, and Damascus asked in a suspecting tone "What do you gain from this, boy?"

With a grin through the shadows of his hood, the boy remarked "You suspect me of manipulating you for my own ends…And your right, in a sense. There is something I want in exchange for granting you immortality with the Gaia Temporis." Damascus raised his right hand and aimed it at the boy while his grey aura surrounded it, remarking bluntly as he did so "You're seriously expecting me to be your puppet, boy?"

"Oh put your hand down, your useless gravity aura can't affect me, especially since I could easily manipulate the calcium in your bones, dehydrate your muscles or blow up your heart with a thought before you get a chance to harm me. Have I not been honest with you so far, Damascus?" The boy was very calm in his threats and inquiry, and Damascus could only raise an eyebrow at the words spoken and grumble slightly before lowering his hand and remarking "You have a few more seconds."

"Hehehe…It does my burning heart good to see you suspecting me though. Your desire to rebel against authority is one of your most prominent personality traits, Damascus…And the key to saving this damned universe. In the end, all I want is for the Aurians, Auris in particular, to suffer for all they have done. In time, you will learn how to wield the Neo Drive despite your lack of connection to the Ten Sages' bloodline…I'm quite positive you'll have figured out how to do it by the time I return to the present, at any rate. However, there's one other thing you need to do before you can truly get started on saving this universe…"

The boy then raised his gloved left hand to the sky and remarked "Travel deep into the depths of space…And meet a man by the name of Justek Ar-" "J-Justek? That madman that was sealed away in the Celestial Cage?! You are out of your mind…" The boy suddenly broke into a chilling laugh and remarked "Of course I am! You think I would deny such a fact?! But you have to trust me on this one…The man will listen if you approach him, I swear my life on that."

Damascus flinched from the boy's break into insanity, regardless of how brief it was, but then he paused for a few seconds and considered everything that was said to him so far. His ideals were slowly swayed to the boy's words as he began to crack a slight grin and remarked "I suppose…It would not hurt to ensure that the legacy of the Ten Sages not be allowed to repeat itself again. My people deserve a better ruler, one that will not manipulate and deceive them!"

Damascus clenches his fist, and with a grin as large as he could manage the boy cracked up in laughter before exclaiming "Wonderful! Accept your destiny, Damascus…No, GRAVITUS!" Damascus rubbed his chin and grinned a little wider before stating "Gravitus…Yes, that sounds like a great name to adopt as my own. A ruler needs a powerful name, one that will curb the rebellion of those villainous folk out there, after all."

"Then accept my gift of immortality, Gravitus, and fix this broken universe of ours!" The boy raised the Gaia Temporis into the air and made it glow, causing Gravitus' body to warp for a moment before the effect faded away and the man felt an odd clenching in his heart. The boy quickly had to tell him "You may feel odd for a moment or two…But that's just your body adjusting to the fact that your time has been frozen. You will not age a day from this point onward, Gravitus, so you will have all the time in the world to do what you need to."

Gravitus moved the hand away from his chest and laughed a little, glancing at the boy before asking him "Hehehe…You must be credited for this, boy. What is your name, so I can thank you properly…?" The boy folded his arms close to his chest and remarked "No…It's imperative that no one knows that I was here. I cannot be credited as the origin of this…But as for my name…You can just remember me as 'The Phoenix of Destruction'…For that is my identity."

"And yet that comes across more as a title than anything else. Hmph…I suppose I am in no position to press you for your true name then. So shall we meet again someday…Phoenix of Destruction?" Gravitus inquired, and the boy turned around and pulled his hand slightly out of the comfort of his sleeves to create another vortex with the Gaia Temporis, remarking as he did so "Perhaps we will in the present. It all depends on your survival in the future…You will have some interesting opponents ahead of you."

"Then this is farewell, for now…" Gravitus said, and the boy grinned and made his way through the vortex without saying another word. He knew everything would line up in the future now that he set events in motion, and after a warp through the twisted dimensions of time and space the boy ends up emerging in the black and starry depths of space itself covered in a shield of air. The cloak on his body waves in the presence of the air around his body, and he lifts a hand up to pull his hood back while he stared straight at the planet Earth that lied thousands of miles away.

"Good…Gravitus has been born in the past, affecting the future as it should. Auris, you foolish wench…You could never figure out that it was I who made him the monster he is, because how can one see that in the future if that moment existed in a frozen period of time?" The boy remarked before ripping the cloak right off of his body and removing it from existence by setting it aflame, followed by him tucking the Gaia Temporis away into his right pocket and stating "Now lets see here…"

Glaring at the Earth, the boy said "The Planetary Aurians were defeated…Gravitus' mark should have been broken…All that's left now is to deal with the final seal. Hehehe…Once I have finished manipulating that foolish replica of mine once more, then that will be the moment you and your powers will fit my ends…" With a face expressing the utmost madness and glee, the boy exclaimed to only himself as flames roared around the frame of his body "JUSTEK ARCAVIRA!"

 **Clash of the Elements Part 6: The Scars of Sins Past**

 **Chapter 1: Prologue of Past and Present Events**

In the present day, it has been a couple of weeks since the Aurian tyrant Gravitus has been thoroughly defeated. It is a time of peace for the planet Earth and the city of Sancturia that floats above it's arctic circle, though the humans are still wondering what happened when the battle against Gravitus was brought to the surface for just a few brief moments. Obviously, the person he was fighting, the young Elemental Overlord Mew, was not going to just come out and explain everything that happened.

Instead, the boy was more content just spending his time at his house, playing video games despite being in the middle of a hot summer day. Even with his house positioned on a flat plateau within some mountains, the heat still got to him, as the winds were silent and therefore not bringing a flow of coolness down the mountain sides towards the house. Wearing his black flame insignia t-shirt and blue shorts did help him deal with the heat slightly, but he was still sweating slightly as he sat on his couch and leaned forward to look at the TV, tapping away at his controller while facing what seems to be a tough boss.

As he licked his lips and concentrated as hard as he possibly could, he only had a second to take his right hand up and swipe the front of his spiky brown hair free of sweat before he glanced slightly to the right while tilting his head and remarking "Hey, how you holding up down there?" The person he was talking to was a girl his age who had long silky brown hair that reached halfway down her back. She wore a loose green t-shirt that was drooping on both sides of her body as she laid on the carpet floor, her large breasts pushing the top of her shirt slightly and revealing a bit of her midriff, and she also had some nice blue jean shorts and didn't wear any socks or shoes due to being indoors. In her right hand was a study book that she had grasped by the back of the spine with most of her fingers while her thumb pressed against the inside of it.

This girl was named Kairi Aurora, the daughter of the sage Auris and the current wielder of the Neo Drive, which she got after a long fought battle against not just Gravitus, but her own emotions. And as she laid against the floor her body sweated slightly, though the air conditioning vents did give her just a bit of a breeze to work with, and with a slightly irritated but focused look on her face Kairi remarked in response to Mew's question "I REALLY don't get why you don't just conjure a breeze already Mew…"

"I'm not here to be a human cooling unit, Kairi. I'm not going to abuse my powers just to keep ourselves cool…" Mew remarked with a bit of a chuckle afterwards, and for a moment Kairi lowered her arm and laid her book against the top of her breasts before glaring at Mew and telling him "It's not abusing your powers…Do you want us to die from dehydration?"

Mew grinned a little and said "You know, after surviving Gravitus…Dying from dehydration would be a bit embarrassing." Kairi smiled for a moment and looked pretty optimistic that Mew was going to give in and summon some wind to keep them cool, but then he quickly remarked "So you are more than welcome to get up and grab a cold water from the fridge. Hell, there's probably some ice cubes you could lay on your skin in the freezer."

Kairi's expression quickly returned to one of annoyance as she bit the bottom of her upper lip and growled a little before letting out an echoing "Ugh" and saying "Are you kidding me…? The ice in your freezer has probably all melted, that's how hot it is." Mew grinned and decided to pause the game he was playing for a moment in order to give Kairi his full attention, and as he laid his arms down on his knees he glanced at her and said "Come on Kairi, you'll never get used to the surface temperature if I give you an easy way out every time."

Kairi slammed the back of her head against the floor and groaned some more, telling Mew bluntly "I don't get how humanity has survived this long on this planet when the temperature can't even make up it's mind on what it wants to be…" Mew laughed a little at that remark "It's just a matter of adapting…You're too used to living in a cold environment, Kairi."

"You call it adapting, I call it having a stubborn degree of tolerance…" Kairi remarked before lifting her book back up and trying to read it, though her eyelids were drooping a bit now that she got back to it. "Speaking of stubbornness, it seems you are doing everything you can to avoid falling asleep while reading. You should take a break from reading for a moment and do something else, Kairi." Mew remarked while raising a finger up and smiling.

"I have to keep up with my studies, I don't want to slack off TOO much over the summer." Kairi remarked in a more relaxed tone of voice, but Mew then laid his hands atop his kneecaps again and told her "Oh come on, summer is made for nothing more than slacking off. I mean granted, if you want to spend that time studying that's your decision, but if you combine that with this heat you'll just keep tiring your brain out."

Kairi glared at Mew while puffing her cheeks out slightly and asked him "Ok genius, what do you think I should do to take a break then?" Mew quickly swung his right hand out and used his powers to pull a second controller over to the grasp of his hand, wiggling it in front of his face while slyly smirking, letting his efforts sink in for a few seconds before he remarked "You could always play with me for a bit. This game does have co-op…"

Mew tried to throw in a wink for good measure, but Kairi just gave him a blank stare for a few seconds before dully remarking "So you want me to replace studies with games, huh?" Mew nodded his head, and after a momentary sigh Kairi slaps her right arm flat against the floor and lets go of her book before using her power of flight to slowly push herself onto her feet while remarking "Fine, I guess we can play a game."

"Excellent! Let me just take a moment to plug in a controller and…" As Mew looked towards the TV, Kairi cracked a mischievous smile and lifted her hands up close to her chest in order to quietly crack her knuckles. Mew heard the sound anyways and turned to look at her, seeing the playful look in her eyes before he blinked a few times and inquired "Umm…Kairi…What are you doing?"

Kairi smiled a bit and remarked "Just playing a game like you wanted to…You call it wrestling." As Mew widened his eyes and prepared to wave his hands it, it was already too late. With a brief imitation of a cat's meow Kairi leaped off the ground and tackled Mew right off the couch, taking him right to the floor as his back hit the arm of his couch, which thankfully didn't cause it to tip over. Once on the ground Mew put up some resistance against Kairi's playful wrestling as the two of them tumbled around the floor, hitting walls and the table without really flinching.

The two of them giggled as they played around like that, though they eventually got so out of hand that they began kicking up the dust that Mew was too lazy to vacuum up, filling the room in a cloud of it for a few good seconds while the two continued at it. Eventually the dust settled, and we find Kairi having Mew pinned with his arms outstretched while she panted and sweated even more than before, though she grinning from ear to ear as she said "L-Looks like I win…"

Mew smiled and closed his eyelids while remarking "You might want to flip your perspective on this one, Kairi." Mew then playfully waved as Kairi blinked a couple times and looked past Mew, noticing that he was laying against a bed of rock that looked like it had the texture of his ceiling. Kairi then glanced behind her and saw that she was being held against the ceiling with a ring of rock around her waist, at which point she looked back at Mew and remarked while laughing a bit at how petty this was "Oh, so you'll use your powers for this but not to cool us both down?!"

"What can I say, you know I'm not a fan of losing." Mew said while shrugging his shoulder as best as he could before flicking a couple of his fingers on both hands up to send a slight gust of wind into Kairi's sleeves, tickling her armpits and causing her to lose concentration giggling, and as she crunches her arms against her armpits to stop the tickling she lets go of Mew and remarks "Y-You're playing dirty here!"

As Mew puts the parts of the ceiling he took out back into place perfectly he floats down to the ground and remarks while focusing on Kairi "Hey now, you're the one who jumped me. All's fair in love and war, Kairi." Mew then snapped his fingers and made the ring of stone retract back into the ceiling so Kairi could float down to the ground as well while finishing her laughter up. Afterwards she took a couple steps forward and pressed her breasts against Mew's chest so she'd be close enough to lift her right hand up and flick her finger against Mew's forehead while playfully glaring at him and remarking "Next time I'll just use the Neo Drive against you then."

Mew widened his eyes and nervously grinned, saying as Kairi pulled herself back slightly "H-Heh…Now that's not fair though, that's overkill." Kairi stretched her arms and held them behind her head while remarking nonchalantly "Then just take a loss next time Mew…I had you pinned easily." Mew shrugs his shoulders and remarks "I had ten seconds before I truly lost, that's how wrestling usually works."

Kairi just rolled her eyes at that before leaning back a little and floating until she laid the back of her head against the wall and let her arms droop down on her sides, and she glanced at Mew and said "…You know, that probably wasn't a good idea…I feel even sweatier than I was before." Mew folded his arms together and remarked "Yeah no kidding, I could feel a lot of sweat near your boobs."

Kairi glared at him as though he was being overly perverted and let out a slight grumble, but Mew just told her honestly "It's just an observation, no need to get all mad at me." Kairi relaxed a little and glanced upward while taking her hands and grabbing the bottom of her shirt to wring it out slightly while she remarked "Yeah, I guess you do have a point there…That's what I get for not wearing a bra today…" The last part she mumbled to herself, and surprisingly Mew did not hear this.

Mew then hung his arms out beside his body and remarked "Ok ok…I'll give in. At the very least, you and I should go to another part of the world to try and cool down. It's not like everywhere is experiencing heavy sunlight. You can even bring your book along to continue studying if you want." Kairi grinned at that as she let go of her shirt and told him while lifting a finger up and wagging it before her face "Good enough for me…Go ahead and check the weather channel to see what's going on around the world."

Mew nodded his head in agreement of that and began to walk for the table while using his powers to flip the remote control into his right hand, casually glancing over to Kairi and saying to her "All I ask in return is that you clean up the little bit of damage we did to the house. A couple chairs fell over, and there might be a little more…I wasn't really paying attention." Kairi turned to the right and raised a hand up to use her ability to control aura in order to pick said chairs up while Mew switched to the main setting for the TV, after which he began flipping through the channels to reach the weather one.

But the moment he reached the channel, Mew's eyes widened in a curious manner as he sees an emergency news report going on at that very moment. There's a reporter standing at the edge of a familiar city with a certain towering needle in the background, but currently some burning fireballs were colliding with the city and creating cataclysmic bursts of flame that took the city apart. The report was trying to keep her cool as she reported this news, but her body was clearly quivering even as she stood there trying to describe the scene _"W-We come to you today in what appears to be a brazen apocalyptic attack on our fair city! There have already been causalities reported in the thousands, and there's no sign of just who is attacking or what they want."_

Kairi heard the news and ran over beside Mew to look at the TV, and upon looking at the fireballs for a bit she remarked "Mew…Doesn't those look a lot like the type of fireballs you use?" Kairi's observation did not go past Mew's eyes, and he looked rather perturbed as the fire continued to tear through the city without end. The reporter remarked _"Evacuations are underway as best as they can, but is there anyone out there that can stop this mad-"_ before he finished his sentence, a sudden fireball 'strayed' over to her location and incinerated her and the camera person with ease.

The TV became filled with static, and Mew immediately shut the TV off and threw the remote onto the couch while his eyes were widened in shock. He finally remarked in response to Kairi's earlier comment "Yeah…This doesn't feel right at all. That city was being attacked by someone with my type of powers…I could just barely feel that through the TV. We need to hurry up and get to the city and stop this person, whoever they are!"

Mew began to ran for the door while Kairi, who was really confused by the presence of what appeared to be a second Elemental Overlord, took a moment to register what was happening before she remarked "Wait a second! Just let me get my staff!" Mew was already opening the door before he turned back and remarked "No time! You'll have to just catch up with me!" He then ran outside and leaped off the ground to take flight, and Kairi could only grit her teeth and hurry to catch up with him as she ran to the back of Mew's house and found her staff, picking it up and turning to make a run for the door to take flight and hurry after Mew before he could fly straight into trouble…

 _Next Time: Remember me…Replica_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Dance of Destruction I: Obliteration of Amnesia**

Flying through the skies hastily, Mew focuses his gaze entirely on what was ahead of him. He was so focused on figuring out who that strange element wielding person was that he didn't notice that Kairi was catching up with him from the side until she glanced at him and bluntly grabbed his attention with a proclamation of his name. Mew flinched and looked at her with a sideways glance before asking "Did you get your staff?"

Kairi nodded her head and remarked "You looked deep in thought there Mew…You alright?" Mew chuckled dryly and look back on ahead before replying to her with "I just don't understand how there could be someone else out there with my powers…"

Kairi glanced off to the side and was about to comment on that before Mew looked at her and said "I-I know there's my brother Riku, but you heard Saturn, he's out being a hero…I mean it's entirely possible that maybe he's being possessed, but I just don't think that person looked like him." Kairi remarked afterwards "I didn't really get a glance at him. He only showed up for a second before…that poor reporter was killed."

Kairi shivered a moment at the brutality of that person's swift demise while holding her staff beside her, and Mew remarked "He had brown hair, that automatically is enough for me to deny Riku as the culprit." Before any further comments are made, Mew looks at the sky and notices some dark smoke clouds floating this way, all of them coming from the flames of the city that the mysterious figure has attacked.

Mew shivers a little upon looking at the smoke, remarking as he did so "I can feel so many lives lost amongst this smoke…Hundreds, likely thousands have been killed. We have to stop this person Kairi, before he can take another life!" Mew clenches his fist and thrust himself forward at a faster speed, with Kairi widening her eyes for a moment before doing the same, the two of them heading straight for the burning city in the distance.

As of that moment, a series of advanced, heavily armored helicopters were firing upon a single aerial figure with laser blasts from their side mounted turrets. The figure doesn't move at all and lets the bullets hit him, each one hitting his skin but not piercing it even an inch or making him at all flinch. After the copters were done with their salvo, the person smirked and swung their right hand out casually in front of him, grabbing one of the copters with magnetic force and ripping the blades right off, keeping them spinning through the air so they can slice through the other copters and split them clean in half.

"Hehehe…" The person was enjoying himself as the copters fell from the sky in a blaze of fire, their pilots panicking as their parachutes fail to activate as they leap out of their vehicles. The person planned to swing the copter blades back down in an arc to kill the pilots, but before he can do so he is suddenly attacked by a swift and powerful sword swing from Mew, who got beside him with his broadsword drawn and burning with hot red flames. The person breaks their concentration as he's pushed back a few feet, and as the blades drop to the ground Kairi uses her aura to catch each pilot in a small net and quickly pull them to a safe location on a hillside outside the city before they can notice what saved them.

Kairi then flies over to catch up with Mew and glares at the person he attacked while Mew held his broadsword diagonally in front of him, cautiously watching as the figure hid his eyes under the front of his hair as his head is bent forward. The person then grins and starts chuckling a bit before he slowly creeps his hands into his pockets, and after a pause he remarks in a raspy, adolescent voice "I knew you would arrive…You're so predictable."

The person then lifted their head up, revealing that like Mew, they had blue eyes and brown hair, though this person's hair was kept down on both sides of his head and some of it covered the front of his forehead. He a normal blue t-shirt and brown jeans, not exactly the type of ensemble you'd expect from a person this destructive. But then again, with the expression of pure bliss he has after being attacked and causing destruction across this once peaceful city, it'd be hard not to see what kind of person he truly is.

Mew clenched his lips shut after a quiet gasp upon looking at the person's face, and Kairi blinked a couple times in a similar moment of shock before remarking "Mew…Why does he look like you? Did you create a second clone you never told me about?" Mew grits his teeth slightly and admits "I only created Riku…This doesn't make any sense. Who is this guy?"

The person lifted his head up slightly and widened his grin while looking on with a bit of eerily calm madness on his expression, telling Mew bluntly "Do you not remember me yet? What have you been wasting your time doing all this time if you haven't bothered to get your memories back…? 'Protecting the people'?" The person was quite mocking in his tone during that last part in particular, and Mew bluntly remarked as he swung his sword out beside him "Yeah! I stop people like you from committing senseless murder! Now who are you?!"

The person ignored the question and raised his left hand from his pocket and waved it out in front of him while mocking Mew with a simple shoulder shrug, telling him "My murders are far from senseless…After all, I accomplished what I wanted in the end, what with you being lured out of hiding and all." Mew clasped the handle of his sword tightly as Kairi remarked "What are you even talking about? Stop ignoring the question and tell us who you are!"

The person glared at Kairi and with his teeth slightly clenched he bluntly told her "Silence, woman. I have no idea who you are, but if you open your mouth again I will burn it shut." Mew quickly holds his sword in front of Kairi in protection while focusing his glance on the person and asking them "Fine then…Maybe if I ask you again you'll actually listen. Who are you?"

The person's expression relaxes as he leaned forward and trembled from the way he chuckled, and he told Mew rather humorously "Oh dear…Heheheh…You're the same as you've always been. Losing some memories has done nothing to stop you being a bull-headed figure of 'justice'…" He waves a finger in front of his chest at Mew, and Mew was slowly getting irritated with the person's words and remarked "You know what…Forget it. I know you're a murderer, and if I have to wait until I stop you to get answers then so bet it."

Mew then pushed himself a short distance away from Kairi and swung his sword out to send a wave of flame at the person, but even with their eyes closed they just wave their hand up at the speed of light and the flames are cut through instantly, with an amber colored sword curved like a fang now grasped in the hand of the person for a brief second before he puts it away, remarking to Mew after he does so "…Tell me, were you actually expecting that to work, or were you trying to get me to draw my sword so you'd better remember who I am?"

"…I'm more curious to know where you got that sword more than anything else." Mew inquired while lowering his sword and keeping his guard up, while Kairi get a grasp onto her staff and just stayed quiet until it was time to attack the boy seriously. The person remarked while lowering his arm back into his pants' pocket "I got the sword from the same source that you did…The original Elemental Overlord himself. Is that enough to piece things together for you?"

The person was blunt and uncaring in calling Mew stupid there, but Mew just widened his eyes and said "What? The original Elemental Overlord? But I'm his successor, and I sure as hell know I didn't make you as a clone of myself." The person raised a hand to the front of his face and spread his fingers while looking at Mew in sheer disbelief, letting out a gasp of shock before bluntly asking him "Are you seriously that retarded these days? If I'm not a damn clone, then what option does that leave?"

Mew just paused with his teeth grit and said nothing as though he did not have a clue, but after a few seconds of thinking about it Kairi figured out what the person was getting at and was about to say "Mew, he's saying-" "I SAID SILENCE YOU WENCH!" The person raised his right hand up and casually fired a large beam of flames from the palm, forcing Mew to get directly in front of Kairi and cleave his broadsword downward to cut down the flames, making them split in halves away from Kairi before the attack comes to an end upon the person recognizing Mew's defiance.

"Right now, she's not a part of this…You try and attack her again, and you're dead in one stroke." Mew boldly threatened the other boy while gripping his sword in both hands and lurching forward in a defensive stance, and Kairi looked at him and remarked quietly "You don't have to do that, you know I can defend myself." Though she said that, she was secretly flattered by Mew paying enough attention to mount a defense despite the words of the other boy clearly affecting his mind.

Mew glanced back slightly over his shoulder and remarked "Just be ready to fight soon…I'm getting tired of this guy's crap." The boy shared similar sentiments, and to Mew's surprise he quickly replied to his comment with "You're right, so am I. In fact, if you are seriously not going to remember things in your own, either because you're too brain-dead to do so or what I did was a lot stronger than I expected, then I'll just have to do the deed myself."

The person raised their right hand limply beside themselves and snapped their fingers, and as Mew looked at him he suddenly feels a sharp snap of pain in his head that forces him to lift a hand up and grasp the side of his head as hundreds upon hundreds of memories come flowing back into him simultaneously, all the while his mind is strained trying to keep them all contained, and Mew starts grunting in pain while barely keeping a grasp on his sword in one hand. Kairi looks at him in shock and immediately flies in front of him to brandish her staff at the person without saying a word, letting her glare of anger be enough to speak for her.

The person tilted his head to the left to look at Mew before swinging it backwards and looking rather arrogant and yet happy for himself as he remarks "Come on now…I think you have bigger problems to worry about then me. The damn replica's head looks like it's about ready to burst outward on all sides…" Kairi glanced back at Mew, and saw him trembling from all the memories flowing into him, which affected him to the point that he could no longer hold onto his sword and it dropped out of his grasp so he could grab both sides of his head.

Kairi held back her staff and leaned forward to try and get a closer look at Mew's body, but kept herself quiet as she inquired in a concerned tone "What's going on with your mind, Mew?" "I-I'm….remembering….I'm remembering something…No…No! Many things…There's a lot I had forgotten about…And…And…Oh god…Oh god please don't make me remember that…And not just one…There were a few promises I had forgotten as well…" Mew looked absolutely crushed the further the memories went on, as he began to recall promises that he had given to some people close to him, ones that have gone unfulfilled in the three years since the events in question took place.

The person looks at Mew much to Kairi's fury and exclaims "Hahahaha! You're remembering it all now, aren't you? That one week you spent dealing with that pesky reality bender…The time you bothered me, everything I ever told you…You damn replica, exclaim my name now! You know exactly who I am!" Mew lifts his head up slightly and draws a hand away from his face to give the person the full extent of his angered glare, and with his teeth grit he says with barely held back rage in his voice "Alex…Whiter…!"

Mew stepped forward slightly, ignoring Kairi entirely as she heard and looked at Mew. Mew slowly stood back upright while holding a hand against his face, and as he went a few steps closer to the boy named Alex Whiter they put on an arrogant expression and brushed his knuckles against the front of his shirt, remarking as he does so "Yes, that was my name…But nowadays you can refer to me as the Phoenix of Destruction. That is the title I was always destined to have, after all, so what better way to 'honor' such a gift than to embrace it?"

Alex glanced at Mew as he paused in place with his hand still grasped onto his head, his expression looking absolutely infuriated at him for the truth. Alex taunts him, revealing rather uncaringly in his tone of voice "You remember it all, don't you? How I knocked you unconscious and wiped your memory of those events…?" Mew took in some deep breaths through his grit teeth, pushing them out slowly as Kairi could feel a black aura of sorrow and rage slowly start to form around Mew's body. She widened her eyes a little and felt the need to whisper out while shaking her head "Mew…Don't let him get to you…"

She could only begin to understand why he was angry at this moment, but she knew all too well what would happen if Mew pushed his anger too far. And right now, what would happen if that occurred would be far worse than whatever this Alex Whiter person was capable of. The problem in question comes from the demon in Mew's head that goes by the name of 'D.'., who at this moment was relishing in the influx of anger Mew was experiencing thanks to Alex Whiter's interference, and in his raspy, demonic voice as he pretends to float behind Mew's body he remarks _"Hahaha…Holy crap I can't believe this is actually happening. To think that the boy who sealed those memories away would come back and be the one to break them free…I was saving those memories as a trump card to break you for good, but now…This is a much better spectacle of rage and despair than I could have ever hoped!"_

Mew continued to put all of his focus towards Alex, ignoring the demon with a blunt "S-Shut up…! Alex…You…You took it all away from me…!" He then directs his anger all onto the boy, who just coyly smiled and said "What did I take away from you? Anything of worth? Of course not…You had nothing on that world of worth to keep…It was all mine, and you thought you could encroach on it just because you looked like me. So I just took it all away from you, reminding you of the purpose you are all-too lucky to have been given, replica."

"Gr…Grrrr…I'm not talking about that! You took away something from me that was precious above all else…The ability to fulfill the promises I had made! The promises I gave to Driad and Mr. Reality…I wanted to make sure they would never have to be concerned again, and you robbed me of the chance to help them! How dare you…HOW DARE YOU!" Mew exclaimed with justifiable fury, as above all else he has shown that he never lets a promise go unfulfilled, regardless of what it costs. Kairi knew this personally, and shared in Mew's offense towards Alex Whiter by exclaiming to him "Just who do you think you are, Alex Whiter?!"

Alex holds his hands out on both sides of his body and remarks while calmly leaning back in a relaxed pose, summoning erupting pillars of flames in both of his palms "I am the original…The only REAL Whiter…You're just a clone, a fake…An encroacher and nothing else. Why should you be mad at me for taking something as empty as a promise away from you? You think they were something truly worth fulfilling? Don't be naïve…Promises are empty and worthless, always meant to be broken when the time of truth comes to pass. If anything, I liberated you of those foolish promises…"

Every word Alex said that spit on the concept of promises did nothing but anger Mew further and further, and 'D.' smiled within Mew's mind as he could feel the second barrier protecting his subconscious breaking apart slowly. _"Yes…Yes…Hate him…Give in to your rage and hate!"_ 'D.' pushed Mew on with his rage, and Alex could see that Mew was reaching a breaking point and told him bluntly with a sly raise of his right eyebrow "Do you hate me, replica? Your hatred means nothing…It's worthless, just like your whole existence. Truly…Can you say you've done anything worthwhile with those 'promises' of yours?"

Mew's eyes begin to turn yellow in the irises after he pants for a few seconds, his heart clenching against the front of his chest as he slowly states "Give it…back…" The gripping realization that he has no known way of finding Driad and Mr. Reality to fulfill his promises to them, if it's even not too late for him to do so, was the final straw. Despair crept across Mew's mind, and combined with his rising anger he could only swing his arm away from his face as darkness appeared around his body and he proclaimed "GIVE ME BACK THE CHANCE TO FULFILL MY PROMISES NOW YOU BASTARD!"

" _Yes…YES! Show him your hatred…This one time, I shall allow you to use even more of my darkness! You will have full control of your body…So long as you give me the greatest show possible!"_ With that remark, 'D.' uses his spiritual body to infuse Mew's subconscious with the pure darkness within his form, and after feeling a snap in his mind Mew's pupils shrink and Kairi can tell that something is horribly wrong. But Mew just grins as Alex looks at him and says "What's with that attitude, replica? Have you lost your mind?"

As the darkness manifests itself thickly around Mew's arms and legs in a black, goop like substance that takes on a jagged appearance all around, complete with a few extended claws on his feet and hands, Mew chuckles a bit and remarks "It looks like for once…That demon and I agree on something…" Kairi widened her eyes in concern as the darkness causes some bones to grow out from Mew's back, taking on the form of frighteningly demonic wings covered in the same black goop as his arms and legs. "No…Mew…You can't possibly be considering letting him…" She murmured out, but it was already too late.

As the wings spread out wide and flung goop across the air, Mew widened his eyes with the utmost fury and clenched his fists, throwing his arms out on both sides of his body as he threw his head back and exclaimed with all of his rage "I'LL KILL YOUUUU!" The darkness erupted from his body in the form of a full-blown series of shockwaves, the suddenness of it throwing Kairi back a few feet through the air as she lets out a brief cry of concerned surprise. Alex just let the darkness hit him without flinching and grinned, saying under his anticipating, panting breath "That's good…This is just what I've been waiting for, replica."

Kairi quickly responded to Mew's descent into darkness by exclaiming as loud as she could "You can't give into your hatred like this Mew! He's not worth losing yourself!" Mew lurched forward slightly and drove the darkness around his body close to his hands, proclaiming to Kairi immediately as he does so "KAIRI, SHUT UP AND STAY A SAFE DISTANCE AWAY! …This bastard took my memories away, he's killed hundreds, maybe thousands…I need to kill him with my own two hands, no matter what it takes! …And I know that if I go too far, you'll be around to stop me."

Mew's rage towards Kairi's interference quickly turns to rationale, which at least gave Kairi the hope that Mew had not fully succumbed to that demon's control, which she was relieved for but found rather odd all things considered. With Mew having put his faith in her strength, Kairi decides to play it safe and back off for the moment, but as she does so Alex glares at her and remarks in a somewhat irritated tone "Kairi…? That's that wench's name?"

Mew quickly took the darkness in his hands and flew right at Alex, slamming both of his claws into his chest and unleashing the darkness in the form of a fifty foot round shockwave that shatters the glass in the burning buildings below with the air it releases, and Mew remarks as Alex is pushed back while being distracted "This isn't about her! It's you and me now, damn it!" Alex recovers from the attack and swing his right hand out while remarking "Nice hit…A shame it means nothing against me."

Mew charges at Alex and attempts to rend him with his right claws, but Alex quickly floats back a couple feet and swing his right arm in front of his body while coating it in a million volts of electricity to repel Mew's attack while bathing the area in gigantic lightning bolts, some of which shoot right through the buildings below them and brighten the sky with their intensity. Mew just quickly swing his other arm out and coats it in black electricity, exclaiming as he does so "You think I can't fight lightning with lightning?!"

Mew tries to grab Alex's face with the black electricity, but Alex quickly raises the appropriate fist up to punch Mew straight in the palm and use the resounding force to push himself back without taking any damage. Alex's left leaning forward for a moment as the black electricity was released a bit into his arm, but he quickly recovers and swings his body to the right to dodge Mew attempting to attack him with a blade projected from the black goop on his left arm. Alex then coats his right leg in pure ice and swing it and his body around in a complete circle to kick Mew right in the side of his body, freezing that part of him in an absolute zero layer of frost while sending him straight into the side of a towering building.

Mew crashed through the building's windows and takes out a good chunk of whatever non-flammable stuff was still inside before he slams his right foot against the ground and tears up the tiling below with his claws in order to break himself. He quickly superheats the frozen part of his body with black flames and grits his teeth while Alex flies into the building at high speeds to pursue him, a gleeful look in his eyes as he does so.

Mew quickly spawns a third arm from the side of his body through the power of darkness and grabs a nearby office chair, increasing the density of it's metal with a clear-cut focus on it and then swinging it out to intercept Alex, who draws his sword again to cut through it in the blink of an eye as though it were sheet metal. But with the seat removed, Mew hardens the melting tip and makes it protrude out sharply before jabbing it straight at Alex's chest while his arm was swung out from the earlier attack.

Alex, however, makes a point to show the futility of Mew's efforts by ramming right into the sharp spike of metal, bending it down to a thin stump with a combination of his strength and heat, and Alex then discards his sword and swings his right hand out to grab Mew by the neck and push him through the rest of the office building, crashing him right out the windows before choosing to let go and sending Mew hurtling through the city with a burst of high-pressure air, which lets out an echoing snap throughout the outer reaches of the city.

Mew crashed diagonally through three buildings in rapid succession before smashing against a highway road filled with cars, his body sending all of them flying off to the sides while his back tears apart the road itself below. A large indent is left in the road as Mew recovers from the attack and quickly pulls himself to his feet. The immediate thing he notices after that is how many cars were stuck in this highway, but by this point the flames had caused the people inhabiting them to perish. Mew could not sense a single survivor amongst these burning vehicles.

He could only focus on the vehicles for a moment until Alex comes barreling down from above, slamming both of his hands down atop Mew's skull as they were clenched together in front of him. This creates a shockwave from Mew's feet that wipes out the already crumbling highway for at least a mile on end, with the many cars on it being flung out into the buildings surrounding the area. The sounds of shattering glass from the windows busted open resounded in Mew's ears, but seemed to bring only delight to Alex as he continued to grin.

As these events spanned out over a period of a few seconds, Mew grit his teeth and had been readied for Alex's attack, and as he slowly lifts his head up he sees a gasoline truck flying through the away from the shockwave directly behind Alex. Mew quickly throws both of his arms in front of his body and pushes Alex towards the truck with a burst of wind. The moment Alex collides with the tank of gasoline it explodes upon him, and Mew takes a moment to catch his breath.

But Alex was never going to give him an inch, as he took the flames created by the explosion and compiled them into his hands, though there was some degree of smoke coming up across his skin and clothes to show that he was affected by the attack somewhat. He then threw the explosions straight at Mew in a series of chain reactions through the air by thrusting his hands out in front of him. Mew counters the explosions not by taking them head on, but by compiling the shards of the broken gasoline tank into a wall in front of him that's big enough to hold them back.

Alex then sends a series of sharp icicles to impale themselves into the steel wall, but they only push through halfway before stopping. Mew is on his guard in anticipation for Alex's next move, as he doesn't take any action for at least three seconds, suddenly reappearing behind him and throwing a punch into the center of Mew's back to push him right towards the icicles. Mew grits his teeth and sets his aura ablaze with black flames to melt the ice before he strikes it, simultaneously burning himself through the steel wall he created.

He then grinds to a halt in midway and swings his body to left, firing a flame blast from his left hand through the hole in the steel at Alex. Alex flips through the air over the wall as it now begins to collapse, and with his right foot coated in melt Alex dive down and kicks Mew straight in the cheek, making his facial skin distort slightly before he is sent plummeting straight through one of the cars and the ground below it, kicking up a plume of heavy dirt from impact.

Alex swings both of his arms out beside his body and throws giant fireballs rapidly in a circle at the ground below him, creating titanic blasts of flames with each impact in hopes of striking Mew was he was stuck underground. Through the plumes of smoke Mew sends up some pillars of pure stone straight at Alex from all sides. Alex proclaims "Is this really how your going to attack me?!" before casually swinging his left hand out and releasing a thin high-pressure whip of water that slices through the stone pillars and halts their advance entirely.

But as it turns out, Mew predicted this and stored himself in the upper part of one of the stone pillars Alex just cut down, and he bursts right out of it and flies right at Alex, the boy reacting with a moment of surprise at how well Mew hid his energy until he's then struck twice across the face with two swings of each of Mew's fists, the broadness of Mew's punches and the strength he used basking the sky with streaks of darkness as he pushes Alex further and further back, cracking slightly the bones in his jaw.

Alex then retaliates to Mew's attacks by violently grabbing his right wrist and holding his arm out with a vicious tug to prevent it from retracting, followed by him coating his right fist in diamond and setting it on fire, throwing three straight and hard punches into Mew's face, hitting a different part of it each time and making it jerk back from the strength of each impact, shockwaves of flame ripping through the sky as he does so. The attacks only stop when Mew swings his head away from the length of Alex's punch and pulls on his right arm hard enough to free it from Alex's grasp.

Mew then created a large plant bud around the circumference of his right hand and lifted it up so it could open upon Alex, spraying him with a series of blinding spores that attach to his eyes and cause them to burn with irritation before he could repel them away. Before Mew could follow up with a powerful claw swipe, Alex gets rather frustrated and quickly swings his right hand out while summoning his sword, unleashing a ten-mile wide slash of flame that sends Mew flying back a good mile away from his location, with the bottom of the attack scarring the ground with a searing chasm.

After Mew was out of the way, Alex washed away the spores from his eyes by splashing his face with a quick wave of water, though he still had a little bit of irritation on them that glazed his vision while it recovered. He dispels his sword and flies at Mew, spinning himself around to create a gargantuan horizontal tornado that grinds up the buildings around him, with the debris being dragged into the tornado as it also becomes covered in lightning.

Mew swings his right hand upward and creates a towering vertical tornado to combat Alex's attack. The collision of both forces causes the two tornadoes to halt in place, preventing the debris from sticking around and it all drops onto the ground simultaneously. The lightning shakes out of the tornado with loud cracks of thunder filling the air, but neither Mew nor Alex are able to overpower the other with this attack, causing them to disperse the winding winds across the sky, shattering the glass in the surrounding buildings.

Alex, however, flies right at the floating Mew and socks him one hard in the chest, twisting his knuckles around to contort the skin behind his shirt slightly. But Mew just grins and fights against the pain to take both of his hands and grab Alex's arm tightly, making sure he wouldn't be able to let go. Mew then retracts his wings into his back and starts spinning around and around, keeping Alex held out in front of him while he uses the friction of his spin to build up electricity at his feet by using the very molecules in the air as conductors.

Once he has enough electricity, Mew discharges it into Alex's body and throws him straight ahead, and he's sent through five buildings in a millisecond. Alex slams against the side of a bridge and creates a heavy dent into it. Mew rips open a portal of darkness so he can quickly get over to Alex's location and attack him with a straightforward slam with the full expanse of his claw. Alex pulls himself from the indent and flips himself right up to the top of the bridge while Mew punches through the dent and ends up underneath the bridge.

He looks back and knows that he has to get back up to tackle Alex, but Alex fires off a series of piercing lightning bolts from above that strikes through the roadway of the large bridge and nearly fries Mew before he flies back out of the way. Mew keeps flying back to avoid the lightning bolts until he can rise upward and uppercut through the road, putting himself in a perfect position to draw forth a dark flame version of his sword to slice through the biggest lightning bolt Alex could summon, whose circumference was at least ten miles. The area around it was promptly annihilated from the impact with Mew's sword alone, but Mew sliced through the center of the lightning with a wave of black flames, taking only minimal damage from it all.

Mew then dispelled his sword and landed on the ground at the edge of the broken bridge, limping forward just an inch and swinging an arm in front of his body to while looking straight up at Alex, who was floating at the top of the bridge with his legs close together and his arms crossed in front of his chest. He cracks his neck by tilting his head left and right a little, and then remarks loudly enough that Mew can hear him from all the way down there "So far…Not even a scratch on me! Your hatred is worthless…"

"I'm not done yet! I'm not going to stop until I kill you, Alex!" Mew exclaimed in response to that, but Alex just swung his arms out and bluntly told Mew "My name is not Alex Whiter…Not anymore! I am the Phoenix of Destruction, that is what I have always been destined to be, so that is my true name in the end!" He makes his point by summoning forth an aura shaped like a roaring phoenix around him that stretches out high into the sky.

"You were never this type of person before! What happened to you…? Why are you like this now?!" Mew demanded to know with all of his rage, and Alex Whiter just smirked and remarked to him as his flames died down "You really want to know the truth? It's quite simple really…" Alex leaned back a little while in mid-air and calmly but coldly told Mew "I just stopped being naïve, and realized that this universe doesn't deserve to exist…"

 _Next Time: The Battlefield Born of Hatred_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Dance of Destruction II: Clash of the Elements**

"What do you mean by that, Alex?! You stopped being naïve…? What could possibly make you hate the entire universe?!" Mew bluntly inquired while swinging his right arm out beside him, with Alex simply looking down him with a disdainful glare and swung his right hand out towards the burning city before he remarked "Look at this world alone…Humanity slowly brings their world to ruin with pollution, politics and murder, and the 'good' souls are too weak and cowardly to stand up for what's right in the world. Those in power are corrupted, scum of the earth, and they manipulate things from the shadows to get what they want."

Alex bluntly pointed a finger at Mew and told him "You should remember exactly what happened to me by now, replica! How that bastard leader of the FBI, who unknown to all other humans has the entire world under his control, injected my body with the DNA of an alien race and used me as his guinea pig to start creating an army of world-conquering super soldiers! …And do you think he has been punished for his crimes? Of course not…For the moment, that bastard is still alive on this very world, and until I reminded you of his existence you would have had no idea that he was even real!"

Alex clenched his fists in anger and exclaimed "But he's not the only one to blame…No, the cause of this man's continued existence and the crimes he committed can all be blamed on those damn 'higher-ups' that help govern this universe…No…This multiverse! Those hypocrites ask us Elemental Overlords to rid these worlds of evil, but then they do everything in their power to allow certain vile forces to go unopposed. And for what…? Their so-called 'balance' of the multiverse. And for that, they've let genocidal monsters roam free, megalomaniacs damn the 'innocent', and they've even obliterated entire alternate timelines to fulfill their goals!"

"This universe doesn't need balance! But it doesn't deserve justice either, especially with all the cowards that don't do anything to defend themselves…Those observers and gods who stand by and allow the supremely wicked to continued their existence are truly the most disgusting of the lot! So isn't the solution to all these obvious…? To stop the wicked and wipe the world of it's cowardly souls who claim to be on the side of 'justice', everything must be destroyed! That's why I am who I am now…The Phoenix of Destruction, the ender of all creation!"

As Alex proclaims his goals to Mew with the utmost seriousness in his tone of voice, his aura flares up as much as it possibly could around him, burning as bright as the sun itself and melting the steel below his feet into a puddle almost immediately. Mew glares up at him and proclaims after a pause "…What does any of this have to do with me though?!" "Is it not obvious?! You…who have always sided with that foolish belief of bringing justice to all…are the 'higher-ups'' biggest puppet! So naturally, it's only right that I obliterate you first!" Alex bluntly responded with.

"Well you're wrong, Alex! There is good to be found in this universe, I know there is! I don't know how you could possibly say that those who side with justice are fools when you saw Mario's heroism before your very eyes!" Mew pointed out with a little bit of rage in his voice, but Alex thrust his head forward and spread his fingers outward while lowering the intensity of his aura and telling Mew "Don't you dare try and point out exceptions! A being of pure destruction cannot make exceptions!"

"…I'm sorry to hear that. There's more than one exception I can list besides Mario, but I don't think you're ever going to be in any mood to listen to what I have to say…I'm not going to let you destroy anything else! I will protect any world from your wrath Alex Whiter!" Mew swung his arms out on both sides and began to use the very darkness itself to create two large collapsing spheres within the palm of his hands, and Alex simply grinned and said "So you think, replica! But idealism can never prevail in this universe!"

Alex then snap his fingers, and the steel ropes helping to keep the bridge stable snap off from the bottom and with Alex's guidance begin to lash out between the sides of the bridge as Mew fires off a large quantity of jet black spheres at him. The steel ropes are coated in electricity and used as whips that rapidly flail about to whip through the spheres, and at times the ropes hit each other and flash light through the sky while simultaneously fizzling the air with static. Mew then sprints forward and creates two dark copies of his sword, coating them in black flames as he grabs them in his hands and makes his way for the ropes.

He leaps straight towards Alex and swings his swords around rapidly around his body, never colliding the blades once as he cuts down the ropes into multiple different sized fragments that decrease their length and prevent them from reaching him once. Once Mew was past the ropes he swung his swords out at arms length beside himself and then swung them both in front of him, launching off the black flames in the form of two gigantic crescent shaped waves that both swing around rapidly as they head for Alex.

But the Phoenix of Destruction simply flares his aura up again and thrusts his hands out in front of them, grabbing the front of the black flames in the clasp of his hands and pouring as much of his own flames as he could into the attacks to rapidly convert the flames to his own side, making them now bright red. He then lets go and with a simple though thrusts them back at Mew, who is forced to fly right over them with a flip through the air, but Alex tugs back on his right hand to command the projectiles to quickly turn around like boomerangs.

Mew sensed this coming and turned around to throw both of his swords at the attacks, piercing through the center of them and making them disperse with just that alone, but this leaves his back open enough that Alex is able to thrust his right hand out and summon forth a lightning bolt that pierces right through Mew's back in a single millisecond. Mew lurched back in agony for a moment as the electricity messed with his nerves and senses, and the small hole left in his body released some smoke afterwards.

Leaning forward slightly and holding a hand to the hole in his body, Mew felt is slowly regenerating thanks to 'D.' power as he turned himself around to defend against Alex's next attack, a full-on punch of pure flame from his gloved hand. Mew raised his right arm up and gave it a wide swing outward to counter Alex's attack, making the flames disperse in a mile-wide explosion while Mew took the tips of his claws and coated them in diamond, overriding the black goop for a moment so he could charge at Alex and swipe at his chest with these new claws.

Alex flew back to try and avoid the attack, only for the longest claw to nick through his shirt and scar his chest. Alex barely reacted to the attack, as it was merely a paper cut to his body, and promptly flew right back at Mew and grabbed his right arm, applying most of his strength onto it while his hand was coated in orichalcum, which was a stronger material than the diamond Mew was using. Thus, Alex is able to shatter the diamond tips on Mew's claw and crack the goop, which spread the damage down to Mew's hand below it and sent a sharp pain up his arm.

Mew fought against the pain and swung his left hand upward to grab Alex's by his head, and he applies whatever pressure he could to try and crack part of Alex's skull. Alex simultaneously tried to pull Mew's arm outward to rip it right off, and as they two grunted and grit their teeth they did whatever they could to disrupt each other. Alex threw a hard right hook at Mew's gut repeatedly, hitting harder every time he could while his fist was coated in electricity, but Mew defended against it by throwing some of his concentration into layering two hard metals over his gut, though Alex was slowly breaking through it.

Mew, on the other hand, opened his mouth and blasted Alex's face with a large breath of black flames, though this only led to Alex laughing at how little it was affecting him, especially once he flared his aura up around his head in particular to protect himself. Using the goop to expand the length of his limbs, Mew pushes himself back slightly and lifts his feet up to press against Alex's chest to try and pull himself away, though he still applies the strength he could into trying to crush Alex's skull.

This lock between the two of them is only broken when Alex summons his sword and quickly cuts through the strained goop on Mew's left arm, nearly nicking the fingers off at the tips when he does so. Alex then swings to the right and throws Mew behind him before he could fight back, followed up by pointing one finger out from the rest of his left hand and firing off a large flaming sword that stabs vertically through the center of Mew's body, leaving his body limp in the span of the blade for a moment.

Mew widens his eyes as the pain shoots through his body, but so long as he has 'D.' regeneration he knew he'd recover from it once he freed himself from the sword. Though if he didn't do so soon, the excruciating nature of the pain would get to him to the point that regeneration wouldn't be enough to disregard it. Mew swung his claws against the dull side of the blade as Alex began to lift him up, swinging the blade over his head and quickly bringing it down behind him to slam Mew against the ground.

This jerks the blade through more of Mew's body, but he just continued to grit his teeth and tear into the blade with his claws until it was chipped apart. The blade dispels when part of it is broken over, and there's a large glowing scar in Mew's body that sizzles while it regenerates. Alex dives down at Mew and swings both of his arms upward once he lands on the ground, pulling out stone dust from the ground of the bridge to bury itself into Mew's flesh as it finished regenerating. Therefore, pain still burned itself through Mew's nerves while he had to focus some concentration into forcibly pushing the dust out.

Mew leaps back before Alex could throw a punch at him, but the boy quickly flipped himself through the air and performed a drop kick onto Mew's head, sending him plummeting straight down into the river below after the impact crumbled the rest of the already weakened bridge apart. With little to support itself, the large steel supports across the bridge begin to bend from the pressure and crumble apart towards the water, and with a snap of his fingers as he floats in mid-air Alex causes the steel to become electrified as it falls down.

Inside of the water, Mew has expunged the dust from his body by getting them to his sweat glands and forcing them out through there, but upon looking up in the water and seeing the electrified steel beams and girders falling down his way he quickly swung his arms out and surrounded himself in a plant borne gelatinous substance that would prevent the electricity from shocking him as it impacted with the water, lighting it up with a flaring presence that spread out for the entire length of the river, the light of it reaching up high into the sky.

Alex looked down waiting for Mew to come out of the water, but the boy wasn't going to try such a simple approach. While he was still protected, Mew swam for the edge of the river in a single burst of speed, but he swung himself around and thrust his hands forward to send a chill through the water and make sharp pillars of ice come out from the river's surface and target Alex, regardless of whether they had to come out straight up or diagonally to reach him. Alex flew back to dodge the attacks while smirking, letting out a short remark of "Persistent…Aren't you?" as he did so.

Lifting his head up and back before a spike nicked his chin, Alex swung his left hand up and snapped his fingers to ignite a flame in his hand, then remarked as he prepared to swing it out in front of him "You always were this stubborn, replica!" He thrust the flame he created out at the ice spike directly in front of him and sets off a chain of combustion through every inch of ice he possibly could, filling the air with a mass of explosions until they reached the river, at which point the surface of the water bulges upward and bursts in one grand explosion.

But when Mew isn't pulled out from the river with that move, Alex was right to assume that Mew was going to attempt a sneak attack from behind. As such he turned around and quickly prepared to draw his sword to cut through Mew's stomach horizontally, but Mew had planned for Alex to suspect his actions going that way and actually leaped straight out of the ground he had dug through with both of his claws turned into solid silver. By the time Alex realized that Mew had played him for a fool, Mew clapped both of his claws against the sides of Alex's head with all the force he could master.

Darkness splattered out in two shockwaves from the impact, and Alex's head was shaken up enough by Mew's attack that his vision blurred and he could feel parts of his skull crack. The best part about this was that Mew hadn't used his actual hands but rather spare ones that he created with the dark goop, so he quickly pulled back his fists and set them on fire with black flames, and as Alex's eyes widened with madness and confusion Mew punched Alex hard in the gut while roaring as hard as he could, the black flames scattering onto Alex's shirt as the boy is sent flying miles back across the air.

But Mew didn't end his attack there, as he quickly flew after him and after an arching flight below him Mew struck Alex in the back with an upward kick made of lightning, which made his body lurch down at the head and legs while his spine struggled to not crack. Mew then quickly rose above Alex and thrust his right hand down, expanding the size of his claw's palm so he could swallow Alex's body in darkness and drag him straight towards the ground, slamming him into the center of the closest highway so hard that it all crumbles down on top of him once Mew lets go, keeping him buried under the rubble for the time being.

Mew quickly descends down close to the rubble and holds his arms out just in case he has to properly defend himself, and he could sense that Alex was not attempting to dig himself into the ground to escape the rubble and perform a sneak attack. He glared at the rubble for a few more seconds until he felt a sudden but sharp increase in power from within the rubble. Before Mew could attack, three large nails are thrust through the sides of the rubble pile and impaled right into Mew's arms, digging themselves right through the black goop before dragging his body across the air and into the side of a building.

A few more nails rocket out of the rubble as the top of it slowly crumbles apart and Alex floats out of it, angered beyond belief as his aura flares bright yellow and he slowly lowers his eyebrows to glare at Mew. Once he has stuck three nails into every single one of Mew's limbs and his chest, Alex floats his way over to Mew's location while remarking "You think you can best me so easily you little gnat…?! I am beyond all gods in this damn universe, and you're just a measly clone…A puppet! You're less than the dirt that should be honored to be below my feet!"

Alex raises his right hand up and summoned his sword, then lifted it above his head and grasped it in both of his hands while igniting the blade in the pure flames of hatred. Once he was close enough in front of Mew, Alex let the flames roar as high as the highest skyscraper, burning a hole through the sky above with the heat coming off the tip of these flames alone as he widened his eyes and exclaimed "LETS SEE YOU HEAL THIS OFF, REPLICAAAAA!"

With Mew struggling to push the nails out of his skin, he was stuck in place as Alex put as much concentration he could into holding the nails down, a feat most impressive considering the concentration it must also take to keep the flames coming out from his sword. Alex brings the sword down with all of his might, slicing through the building until it reached close to Mew's head. The length of the flames meant a few more buildings were cut through as well along the way, and as such they began to collapse from the top downward, raising up tons of dust as they do so.

The dust clouds Mew and Alex right before the flames from the sword connected, but the glare of red light that emerges as the attack connected could not be covered, nor could the towering eruption that came to be once Alex struck the ground itself. The dust was cast aside by this eruption along with most of the debris in the surrounding area. Only the piece of the building that Mew was pinned to was allowed to survive by Alex's whim, but as the dust settles…Mew was completely unharmed by the attack.

Alex was frustrated by this immensely, especially once he saw what appeared to be three thick barriers of now sliced through aura protecting Mew. While hunched over from the swing of his blade, Alex exclaimed "WHO DARES?!" and begins swinging his head around to search for the culprit until he looks up to the left and sees Kairi floating in mid-air with a hand clasped around the elbow of her extended right arm and a tired look on her face from putting all that energy into protecting Mew from harm. Mew glanced at her and his expression immediately became fraught with concern even though he had every reason to thank her for the help…Because now Kairi had just put Alex's focus entirely on her.

But for the moment, Alex just paused there in a rather disturbing manner, his arms limp beside himself as his eyes widened and he looked as though he saw a ghost. "That girl…Her name is…Kairi…? And she just…just used aura…No…No…I'm still being tormented by this…?! Damn it…How could this be? …How…HOW?!" Alex mumbled to himself with the occasional outburst, as he stuttered in place for a few seconds Mew quickly exclaimed to Kairi "KAIRI, GET OUT OF HERE NOW! OR ELSE-"

"DAMN YOU TO HELL, AURIAN! HOW DARE YOUR KIND KEEP GETTING IN MY WAY!" Alex suddenly broke out of his stunned state and flew straight at Kairi with his sword drawn back behind his head, and it would just take one powerful slash to cleave her head from his shoulders. Kairi expressed shock for a moment before all of a sudden Mew ripped himself from the building now that Alex broke his concentration, and in a flash of light Mew went directly beside Alex and punched him straight to the ground with a blow to the face while exclaiming with all of his rage "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER YOU BASTARD!"

Alex is sent crashing into the ground, but Mew doesn't even let him skid an inch before he teleports right on top of him with his foot pushing downward onto his chest to force him against the ground. The force Mew applies upheavals all the rock in a mile around him and topples a couple of the burning buildings in the process. But Mew doesn't care about that at the moment as he quickly flips his body around and starts pounding at Alex with a series of heavy punches, holding nothing back even as his actions send earthquakes through the immediate area.

Once he's buried Alex into the ground with his punches, Mew raised both of his arms above his head and slammed them down as hard as he could onto Alex's body to send him hurtling through the planet's plates straight for the planet's core itself. Mew then floated in mid-air before the large crater he had created from sending Alex towards the core, panting a little bit while his arms limped in front of him. There was now a calm in the battle while Alex was out of the picture, and Kairi slowly approached Kairi from behind.

But before she was within ten feet of Mew he said to her "Kairi…I told you…Not to get involved…" Kairi, still disturbed by Alex suddenly becoming outraged at her presence, look at Mew and told him "Mew, you almost died! If I didn't get involved…" "Then Alex wouldn't have decided to attack you…You're in just as much danger as I am, Kairi." Mew quickly replied.

Kairi folded her arms together against her chest and glares at Mew, and says in a rather offended tone "That's not what this is about Mew. What's going on with you…? Why do you not want me to get involved even though we'd win easily if we worked together?" Mew panted a little bit and then let out a tired sigh, telling Kairi after letting out a little chuckle "…I know you'd be able to deal with Alex easily if you used the Neo Drive, but it's not about simply winning…"

Mew glances over his shoulder and then points at the city, which could barely be called that anymore with all the damage Mew and Alex have inflicted on it throughout the battle. Once Kairi spends a little bit of time looking at it, Mew comments "Alex has barely been holding anything back with his punches…If I don't perfectly counter his attacks, we'll break the Earth apart along with the moon…Maybe even more than that. You can fight him, yes, but all it'd take is one wrong move and he'd destroy the planet."

Mew then looks forward at the crater and remarks "Plus, I have to be the one to fight him Kairi…He took a lot away from me when he wiped my memories, and I can't let him take anything else again. It's a personal matter, just like when you wanted to stop Gravitus…" Kairi understood where Mew was coming from by that point, and with a nod of her head she does at least point out "But I'm going to interfere again if your life is in danger, Mew. I can't lose you, and you know that…" She then turns around and flies a safe distance away quickly.

Mew grins a little and remarked "I know, we both feel the same on this matter, Kairi…But I'm not going to lose to Alex. Because he's given up on everything, then he can never win against someone who has something to fight for…" After a few more seconds, the center of the crater glows, and Alex rises up from it in a burst of pure magma and flames, placing himself directly in front of Mew with his fists clenched and bits of magma falling off of his slightly burned skin. Alex's teeth were grit so tightly that it'd be a miracle for them not to break, and as he glared at Mew his irises were bright red for a brief moment.

Mew swung his arms out and remarked coldly "Now it's just the two of us again, Alex." As Mew finally pushed the nails out of his body with a thought, Alex growled bitterly for a few seconds before bluntly telling Mew "To think that wench was an Aurian…And of all of them it had to be HER!" Mew summoned forth a black flame sword in each hand and said to Alex "I don't care what your deal with the Aurians are Alex, but you aren't going to lay a hand on Kairi!"

"You'll be damned regardless of whether I do or not…You can't trust any of them, replica! They'll betray you to serve their ends, they care about nothing but themselves!" Alex exclaimed before charging at Mew while drawing his sword again. Mew and Alex clash blades through the sky, warping across the area as they do so. Mew responds to Alex's remarks by telling him "Kairi loves this planet! She wants to protect it just as much as I do. You think you can turn me against her with your words, Alex?!"

Mew swings both of his swords out simultaneously against Alex's blade, creating a large shockwave of black flames that push Alex back, and after dispelling one of his sword Mew floats back slightly and snaps his fingers to open a rift in the sky that sends down a large rain of flaming blades at Alex. Alex swings his sword around rapidly after recovering from the earlier to deflect the rain of blades while simultaneously sending out large waves of flame to force Mew to move around, all the while telling him "How can you say for sure she truly loves this world?! Those damn Aurians get into your head and use whatever they find to tear you apart!"

Mew rushes at Alex, letting the waves of flames strike his body despite how hot they were and threw a punch right at his jaw, grinding against the bones underneath as hard as he could while proclaiming "I know how genuine her words are! I saw her cry and show genuine anger, I felt her suffering with my very eyes and ears! There's only one person who has betrayed anyone, and that's you!" Mew released his punch by sending Alex hurtling towards the ground, where his body was impaled by two of the black flames swords along the way.

Mew warps behind Alex as he skids along the ground and swings his right claw out to slash across Alex's back and rip through his shirt to scratch the skin itself. Mew then quickly thrust his other claw out and wrapped it around Alex's head, grabbing onto it tightly as he proclaimed "You've betrayed Mario and the others! You've betrayed the original Elemental Overlord…You betrayed me!" Mew turns himself around and throws Alex over his head with his claw, slamming him three time against the ground before letting go of him and firing a blast of darkness directly against his chest that distorts the air before it launches Alex away.

Alex slams against the bottom of a burning building, causing it to crumble apart on top of him. Mew slowly begins to walk over to the remains of the building while remarking "You were supposed to be a hero Alex! You were chosen by the original Elemental Overlord to be his successor and you instead chose to be this destroyer!" Alex responded by making the debris around him rise up slowly for a bit before destroying it all in an eruption of pure flames with him standing in the center of it looking absolutely furious.

His irises had become permanently reddened with anger as he then ran right at Mew with so much force applied to his footsteps that they shook the area with earthquakes, and once he was right in front of Mew he threw out a punch at speeds beyond that of light to prevent him from reacting quickly enough. The blow was strong enough to shatter whatever glass remained in the city with the ensuing shockwave, and the debris on the ground was thrown up from how much the ground was pounded with the force. While Alex had his fist stuck in Mew's chest, he angrily remarked "There was never any destiny as a hero waiting for me, you damn replica!"

Alex kept Mew suspended in place with a wide-eyed expression on his face as he pulled his fist from his chest and proceeded to strike him as hard as he could with a series of punches across the body. These punches came out slowly to better emphasize the strength he was putting into them, and he continued to shake the world itself with the earthquakes he created, with Mew having to put a lot of effort into keeping the planet stable even as Alex beat on and bluntly told him "It was a load of bullshit the 'higher-ups' designed to trick me into following their grand design! I was always meant to be this destroyer, this Phoenix of Destruction!"

Throughout the onslaught of punches, Mew slowly tried to recover himself, culminating in him managing to slip a punch of his own past Alex's fist and strike him right in the cheek as Alex did the same to one of his own. Their heads are pushed back from the impact of the blows until they are forced to split apart as hard as they could, their flying bodies ramming through the bases of roughly five buildings each as they dome-shaped shockwave pushed against the front of the buildings and toppled them all down.

Both Alex and Mew, unknowingly, slammed their right hand against the ground at the same time to grind themselves to a halt, but Alex reacted by flaring his aura up and leaping high into the air. He swung both of his arms out and pulled the debris from the battlefield up to him with a combination of terrakinesis and magnetism, and he merged as much debris as he could into gigantic spheres that he set ablaze immediately. He fired them all down at Mew like meteors while continuing to build more with whatever other debris he could find.

Mew leaps off the ground while seeing the meteors flying his way, and instinctively he knows that the surrounding area would be blown apart if he let them hit the ground. He summons sword after sword and throws them at the meteors while making them spin horizontally, slicing each one apart and breaking the concentration Alex has on them in the process, thus rendering them incapable of causing harm. He continues to do this until he reaches Alex himself, at which point Mew takes one sword and plunges it into Alex's chest, diving down from the air and slamming him straight against the ground.

Alex is grinded against the ground for a few seconds with Mew pressing his feet against his stomach, upon which Mew lets go of the blade and kicks Alex away with a straight punt to the chin. Alex goes flying across the nearby lake and slams right up the mountain on the other side, the trail of his path being visible in the large plume of dirt he forms along the way. Mew then stands on the ground at the edge of the lake and waits for Alex to come back, keeping his guard up all the time as he does so.

Alex erupts into anger again and destroys the top of the line of mountains across the lake with the ensuing blast of fire coming from his body, which makes Mew widened his eyes briefly before he sees the water from the lake blasted up into the sky, with Alex coming right towards him at the speed of light. Mew managed to reacted to this attack this time by holding both of his arms out and grabbing Alex by his head as he impacts with the palms, and though Mew grinds back along the ground he turns himself around and manages to slam Alex down.

Mew holds Alex against the ground and exclaims to him with all his might "I-I don't believe for a second that anyone controlled your decisions Alex! You CHOSE to become the Phoenix of Destruction! You didn't have to, but you did, and now it's up to me to kill you before you can do anymore harm to the world!" Alex suddenly erupted into flames powerful enough to break the black goop around Mew's hands and allow Alex the chance to turn around and rise to his feet, all the while telling Mew bluntly with his voice on the verge of breaking down as he yelled at the top of his lungs "I chose?! Is that the insane bullshit you want to spew now, replica?! I just accepted this role…I was chosen to be the Phoenix of Destruction long before I was even born! How can you even begin to understand my hatred of the 'higher-ups' and this damn universe they hold under their thumbs when you were never even close to being chosen for such a role…PHOENIX OF REBIRTH?!"

Mew floated back a little and brushed some blood that was dripping from the side of his mouth while saying "That's the difference between you and me then, I guess…Hell, there's probably a lot more differences than just that when you get down to it. But we're each our own person Alex, and I'm proud to be who I am…I would never reinvent myself, no matter what fate throws at me." Alex stumbles around a bit and clasps the side of his head with his gloved hand, and then he lifts his head up slightly and glares at Mew before telling him "Then you're weak…If you're fine with remaining so weak and useless with your damn idealism, then you can die with it as well, replica…"

"I'll keep fighting you until one of us collapses…" Mew remarked, and Alex grinned and began laughing slightly before bluntly telling Mew "I know…If nothing else, you are as damn stubborn as I remember you being…But what about your precious little Earth?" Mew widened his eyes once Alex said that, with the boy subtly reaching for his left pocket and tugging slightly on the black and gold stone buried within, making it flash brightly, and in a moment Alex is warped away from the city before Mew could attack him.

"The Time Stone…! I forgot Alex got that back!" Mew exclaimed while putting on a panicked expression and looking around for a few seconds before finally sensing Alex's energy signature flaring up high above the planet. Mew looks up and sees a flash of red flames burning in the sky, and he promptly swings his arms out on both sides of his body while coating them in black flames. High above the planet, bordering on the edge of the atmosphere, Alex Whiter creates a series of flames that wrap around both of his arms.

"Lets see how much hatred you have…WHEN YOU LOSE EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR, REPLICA!" Alex swings both hands together in front of his body and combines all of the flames together into a singular orb, a seal surrounding said orb as Alex aims the attack straight at Mew's location, making sure not to be off by a single inch. The orb continued to grow in size, and Mew could sense the ferocity of it's power from all the way down there. If Alex fired this attack off, the shockwave of the Earth's destruction would likely be big enough to rip through Venus and Mars as well, possibly even Mercury too depending on where it's located.

Mew braced himself hard on the ground and thrust his arms up above him, pouring the same amount of black flames into his hands and creating a similar but black colored seal around the growing orb as he prepares to fire upon Alex's incoming attack. As the ground shook in the wake of the two Overlords power, Mew looked on with determination while Alex did so with sheer insanity on his expression. When the flames were larger than their bodies, Mew and Alex proclaimed the words "FLAME CANNON!" and the beams of fire released from their palms, ready to collide upon each other to determine the fate of this planet…

 _Next Time: The Last Seal Broken_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Dance of Destruction III: Reunion**

As the destructive duel between Alex and Mew occurred on the Earth, the third of the Elemental Overlords, the young Riku, was still looking through information he had gathered from the tablets he had procured from the Elemental Overlord's Genesis Temple. There were quite a number of tablets set up on the walls of E. Gadd's laboratory, forcing the little professor to take some of his equipment down for the time being so Riku had a better chance of observing all of it. E. Gadd was merely sitting down on one of his chairs and working on a device, since he couldn't understand the language on the tablets.

Riku laid a hand on his chin and swerved himself around slightly to look at all the tablets, remarking to the professor as he did so "We've gotten a lot of progress done on acquiring these tablets, professor. Sorry you can't read what these things are saying though, there's some really interesting information here." E. Gadd glances at Riku and tells him "Ohohoho, you've just been telling me whatever you want to about the tablets anyways. By the way, how are you holding up recently? That battle two weeks ago took a lot out of you, after all."

Riku rubbed the side of his head and remarked with a tired giggle "Don't worry about me professor…I've recovered a while ago. Anyways, you know that one of these tablets actually talks about that reality-bending alien a bit? It's like the Elemental Overlord left behind warnings on future events on some of these tablets…" Riku walks over to one of the tablets depicting the final battle between Mew and the reality-destroying leviathan Shattered Reality, though Riku assumed it was the monster that Alpha would have seen on the Light Palace.

"How did the Elemental Overlord even know this would happen…? Was he clairvoyant? …You think a clairvoyant would've been able to stop his own demise though." Riku remarked to himself in a curious tone, followed by him walking along the edge of the room to another tablet that depicts the black winged beast that was fighting the original Elemental Overlord. There was a chip in the stone that Riku had not found amongst the ruins, and it seemed to cut off the name of this beast.

Riku glared at the tablet and remarked to himself with a perturbed expression "…We finally put this tablet back together yesterday minus one piece…So what is the truth behind this beast?" Riku glares over the scribbles of text that make up a language only he and the other successors of the Elemental Overlord could read, and he says to himself and E. Gadd as he reads it "For those who want to bring ruin to the universe, you will find it a difficult task to free '…..' from his cage. I have placed three grand seals to prevent his escape, and if all conditions are not met in the order I have set them up…Then you are destined to fail, though your efforts are to be in vain regardless of your intentions."

"Free someone from his cage? Isn't that rather curious that the Elemental Overlord had a threat that he could not defeat and instead chose to seal away?" E. Gadd remarked, and Riku didn't say anything in response to that as he continued to examine the tablet and said "First, the guardians of the nine planets must fall within the same day. Second, the prisoner's herald must lose the seal embedded on the back of his hand. A third and finally, only the shockwaves born of the clash of two that carry my power will be enough to ripple through the far reaches of the universe and shatter the remains of the cage."

"Ohohohoho, the Elemental Overlord sure went through a lot of trouble to keep this monster sealed away." E. Gadd remarked in an intrigued but subtly relieved tone of voice, but Riku just folded his arms together and remarked "I have no idea how anyone could possibly free this monster. I don't even know who those nine guardians are…Same goes for the herald." Riku raised a hand to rub his chin and hummed to himself for a little.

After a few seconds of thought, however, Riku suddenly had a thought he wished he hadn't started to consider… _"But…But do I really need to know who they are? I imagine I'm not the only one who can read this tablet…My brother and Alex Whiter could read this too."_ Riku widened his eyes and stood there with his face frozen in a worried expression as he thought back to what Alex Whiter has been up to since he saw him taking out part of the M.S.I. Base and then disappearing without a trace. _"Alex Whiter hasn't made a move since then…And that was about a month ago. With what Thanos said about how he brought ruin to the Marvel Universe…What if that was just the beginning?"_

Riku grit his teeth but his eyes stayed widened, and he quickly began to realize what Alex Whiter had been doing all this time _"Maybe he can't destroy the universe all on his own…Thanos said he was pursuing a being that he had failed to deal with before, so maybe he plans to release this monster to take care of that being for him…And then destroy the universe at the same time. But that would mean he'd have to follow the steps in order, and if he's dealt with the first two then that'd mean…"_

The sheer realization of Alex's endgame for releasing this monster the tablet spoke of sent a jolt through Riku's mind, and he quickly turned himself around and exclaimed "Professor! You need to input the coordinates to my Earth right now! I have to warn my brother about what this tablet mentions!" E. Gadd nearly fell off his chair in surprise from what Riku said, and once he stabilized himself he remarked in a puzzled tone "What is it my boy?" Riku quickly told him while trying to stay calm "That monster might be released if I don't warn my brother. I wish I could explain, but I don't have time!"

And that statement was far too true, as back on Earth Mew had already braced himself hard on the ground and thrust his arms up above him, pouring the same amount of black flames into his hands to create a black colored seal and sphere of flames ready to fight back against Alex Whiter's atmospheric attack. They had both fired the large beams of raw flame while proclaiming the name of their attack, and from down below anyone observing could only watch as the flames cut through the smoke in the sky and brought forth the sun and blue skies once more for only a few seconds until it was bathed in the red light of Alex's incoming flames.

Kairi in particular watched and felt the pressure of Alex and Mew's beams approaching each other with a worried expression, especially once the two collided in mid-air and created a gigantic spherical explosion that consisted of a mixture between the two colors of flames. Shockwaves of pure air burst out from the edge of the sphere and blow through the city, putting out whatever flames still remained and making the river and lake split open. Kairi was pushed back through the air even after bracing herself, letting out a little cry of shock before she was able to keep herself still.

As Mew and Alex's flames pushed together at the center of the sky the planet shook for a few seconds, with the mountains cracking and the trees being uprooted from the gales of wind coming from the epicenter. Alex floated above the planet with his palms at the very back of the flames, his eyes glowing bright red as his aura flared up as hot as it possibly could without affecting the atmospheric layers of the planet. Mew, meanwhile, braced his feet against the ground and flared up his aura of darkness to the maximum while putting his fingers on the edges of his black flames.

"G….GHHH!" Mew grunted while putting nearly all of his focus into his attack, his body trembling in time with the planet's tremors as he can even hear the destabilization of the planet below his feet. He had to put a ton of effort into keeping everything together, which took away from his concentration on the black flames he unleashed. Alex had no such things to worry about, which is why Mew quickly suspected that's why he was attacking from the atmosphere. For how berserk Alex had been, he still was making some smart decisions in how he fought, and that did nothing but perturb Mew.

" _Alex…Is throwing every bit of power he's got into this attack. Heh, I never even thought about how powerful he was back when I first met him, he never really did anything that stood out in my mind…But I imagine he's a lot stronger now than he was back then. I have to stop him here…If I don't…Then what can stop him? He'll be free to destroy more worlds, kill millions upon millions…I won't allow it! I didn't fight with everything I had against the destruction of reality to allow Alex to take it all away later!"_ Mew widened his eyes and grit his teeth before pushing his hands forward to put more strength into the beam.

The black flames pushed forward against Alex's red flames and made them go back, but Alex just exclaimed as he felt the resistance Mew was putting up "You're not going to stop me!" He then poured even more flames into his attack. The circumference of the flames grew and pushed back against Mew's attack, moving it closer and closer to Mew's body every few seconds. "Gh…GH! No…I won't…let you succeed!" Mew exclaimed while his body was pushed back across the ground, and while stretching his wings out wide he held his ground and fought on.

As he did so, 'D.' commentated to him _"You aren't using all of your hatred! Show him your true rage! Open the floodgates of anger and loathing, blow him away with all of your power! He took everything from you…Your memories, your sense of identity, your promises! Why does he deserve to live after all that?!"_ Though the demon's words were meant to be manipulative in nature, they did make Mew ponder for a moment just why Alex should ever be allowed to live.

Mew thought back to the time he had seen Alex, and how the two interacted during then. _"The first time I met Alex, he was in the middle of disguising himself as the Chronicler to hide from the others. I found out his reasons for that later, but he was young at the time just like me…I can understand why he had difficulty figuring out how to handle what had happened to him. He did help me when my powers were weakened by Mr. Reality, and he gave me advice on what to do and where to go when no one else could help…"_

" _But he also did tell me about the truth regarding his past, a cruel and horrible past that he never should have had…I may have probably pressed a little too much on that, but he didn't have to tell me. Even so, he did apologize for that afterwards…Then we got into that argument at the Nova Cesspool, and he seemed legitimately upset at me for trying to convince him to return…And even then he returned later to help me fight that phantom of Joe Dark…"_

" _And yet, after all that…He wiped my memories. I just don't get it Alex…Why are you like this? Was the stress of it all too much for you…? Did something happen that changed you over these last three years? …You had people that cared for you, people that could have helped you if you talked to them…And instead you want to destroy them all? I just don't understand, and I don't know if I want to or not."_

While Mew concentrated on debating with himself on whether Alex Whiter deserved to live, he broke focus on the flames enough that they pushed a few feet closer towards him and began to push his body back faster along the ground. Mew quickly thrust his hands forward and roared with all of his might, causing a shockwave to erupt from around his feet that crumbled the buildings around him to the ground instantly. He was able to reach a neutral point in the clash once more because of this.

In the depths of space, Alex grinned and thought to himself _"You foolish replica…You really think you can best me?! I created you…I've spent years suffering through the damnation of the universe itself. You don't have any strength because you do not suffer, your character has not been built up because you have never had one of your own. You've always just had what I chose to shed off onto you, and because of that it's just another way in which you pale in comparison to me."_

" _You see the good in the world because that's all you've ever had to experience. You know nothing of the cruelty or evil of humanity, the people you've sworn to protect, you believe that damn Aurian will always be at your side as a friend or lover even though betrayal is all that awaits. If you want to die for your beliefs, then fine, your whole planet crumbles as well…Though I suppose it didn't matter if you wished to die or not…I would have destroyed this planet by myself eventually. Still, you have no idea what I am even doing, and that naivety will soon enough lead to my victory…Just a little bit longer is all I need…"_

Alex keeps his focus on the flames with all of his anger poured into them, the raging intensity of the flames bathing the sky in red and orange over a slow period of time. As the skies' colors changed and the duel between Alex and Mew did not seem to be ending anytime soon, Kairi kept her distance away from the epicenter of flames and wondered if she should interfere or not. Her power could be enough to turn the tide, surely…But she wasn't even sure if Alex was using everything he had. She could not get a bead on his power through his raging aura, especially when he was that far above the planet, and approaching him to find out would likely put her in the line of fire.

And if Alex was familiar with Aurians, somehow, then he'd be ready to stop her from activating one of her drives. Kairi clenched a hand close to her chest and remarked to herself "I just have to wait for my chance, if any…But I wonder how much longer Mew can hold out for?" Kairi looks down at Mew, who was barely visible behind his black flames as they continued to be sent out, and sees him pushing onward without any sign of slowing down. She smirked a tried to be relaxed in this tense situation by remarking hopefully "Like I have any reason to doubt you…You're never going to give up."

At this point Alex and Mew were completely stalemated in their clash, with shockwaves of pure energy erupting out wildly from the center of the two beams. Seeing these shockwaves unleashing, the demon 'D.' suddenly appeared surprised within Mew's subconscious, and he thought only to himself with a sly grin on his face _"Phoenix of Destruction Alex Whiter…I see now what you're trying to do. It seems it's a good thing I did not bother to take over this boy's body sooner…The true chaos has yet to commence!"_

Even at the northern arctic circle, where Sancturia lies, the clash of Alex and Mew's powers could be observed by the Aurians. Auris in particular stood at the edge of the city with the Planetary Aurian of Earth, the man also known as Gabriel, standing beside her. Auris wore her usual robe and her hair looked the same as it did in the past, while Gabriel wore more casual clothing to look like a regular business person, which looked rather odd on him considering his bulky muscles. The two were greatly concerned with the events unfolding before them, with Auris slanting her eyebrows and having a rather stressed expression in general.

The rest of the Aurians were gathering to examine the event, with one of them commenting "Lady Auris, is this is a sign of the apocalypse?" It was a mother with a child that was barely five years old standing beside her, and the concern in her voice extended towards the safety for said child. Auris sympathized with the lady's concerns, as her own daughter was in the middle of the chaos unfolding, but after letting out a sigh that only Gabriel noticed she slowly turned herself around and remarked "No, but if you are concerned, you should get your kids back to your homes for now. That goes for all of you, ok?"

Some of the Aurians suspected that there was more to Auris' warning than just that, but they trusted her judgment for the moment and decided to move away from the edge of the city to get their children to safety. By the time most of the Aurians moved away, Auris turned back around to face the clash of beams and closed her eyelids before letting out a tired sigh. Gabriel immediately glanced at her and remarked "Of all the times to not reveal the truth, this was probably the worst time not to, Auris."

Auris lifted her eyelids open slightly and remarked in a dry tone of voice "They'll be ready to defend themselves in a few hours…It's best they just secure their children in a safe location for now. Telling them the meaning behind this duel between Mew and the Phoenix of Destruction wouldn't do our people much good…We'll only be the victims of one attack and nothing more." "If he's coming back into this universe, then it's not just a matter of this planet. EVERYONE is in danger…I should mobilize the Planetary Aurians as soon as possible!" Gabriel began to turn around to go do exactly that before Auris stretched an arm out beside her and touched his left shoulder to stop him.

"Everyone may be in danger, but this solar system will be the epicenter of it all…Gabriel, the Planetary Aurians will handle things on their own, I need you to be here to help curb the tide of enemies that will be attacking the city." Auris remarked while continuing to focus on the beams, which were pushing back and forth at regular intervals. Gabriel glanced at Auris for a few moments before remarking "…Very well. The safety of our people should take precedence here, at least until the enemies have been fended off."

Gabriel looked over his shoulder and remarked "Still, to think that this would happen…The Elemental Overlord should have killed that traitor instead of letting this occur. He did not even listen to you, his own wife…" Auris closed her eyelids again and remarked "It could not be helped, Gabriel…It was by the whim of the 'higher-ups' that he was sealed away. If anyone is to blame, it would be I for hoping that the Phoenix of Destruction would not come to exist in this world. I could have stopped him when he was brought to the past…But it would not have been fair to judge a child for what he could possibly turn into."

"But the fact of the matter is that now we can judge him for the destruction he has caused both past and present…Though it is with great regret that I can do nothing to stop the Phoenix of Destruction myself." Gabriel said with a disgusted scowl on his face to himself, and Auris remarked as she glanced towards the red skies in a melancholy manner "No…What we should regret is not being able to help Kairi out in this time of great crisis. I'm so terribly sorry my dear daughter for letting you be put in the midst of this chaos…But stay strong, and I feel as though you will survive…"

Back in the epicenter of the clash between Mew and Alex, no progress has been made between them for about a minute. It was incredibly and rather scary to imagine just how much power those two were throwing out and how it never seemed to end, and considering the amount of fighting they did before this beam struggle it was incredible that they weren't on their last legs yet. By now the humans that survived the burning city were miles away from the area, observing as far away as they can even as their planet trembled.

Mew knew there was no way that he could pass over the fact that this battle happened, and that some explanation would need to be given to humanity for all of this madness. But Mew would have to worry about this matter later, and he continued to press on with his black flames while his feet were buried a foot into the ground. The pressure of the amount of power he was releasing was responsible for this, and his clothes and hair moved about frantically. Alex Whiter experienced a similar affair above the planet's atmosphere, and his body was equally keeping up with the power he unleashed against Mew.

" _Just a little longer…A few more seconds of dealing with this trite!"_ Alex exclaimed in his mind as his eyes widened in anticipation, the fervent glare of madness caring nothing about the clash anymore as the shockwaves that were created from the center of the beams were slowly helping Alex fulfill his true goal here today. "But just for good measure…I'LL PUT AN END TO THIS ANYWAYS!" Alex suddenly exclaimed, and with one last burst of energy Alex doubled the size of his already impressive flame beam and began laughing crazily.

The beam pushed and swallowed most of Mew's black flames, thrusting itself down closer and closer towards him and the planet's surface. The surface cratered around Mew's body to show where the attack was going to collide, and the coursing light of the red flames filled Mew's shrinking pupils as he looked on in complete surprise and horror. Mew grits his teeth and growls for a few seconds before remarking "Not…yet…It's not going to end like this!"

With all of his remaining rage, Mew pushed his hands forward as hard as he could and exclaimed as the flames grew to meet the size of Alex's own attack "This planet isn't just mine! It's yours as well Alex! I don't care how far you gone you are, I'm not going to let you destroy our home!" With one loud roar, Mew's black flames increased to such a hot intensity that they began to turn a bit white as well, and they pressed on as hard as they could against Alex's attack until they were right back to stalemating one another. Mew then exclaimed "I don't believe for a second that anyone could change this much! I'll knock you out, and then I'll do everything in my power to find out just what's wrong with you, Alex!"

The absolute collision of every last bit of raw power Alex and Mew had to muster up for this attack shook the skies above and made the planet tremble one last time as the beams merged together into one gigantic glowing sphere of raw power, the expanse of it glowing bright white and after a few seconds the sphere burst apart into a series of shockwaves, letting out a large bang that echoed across the whole continent and overseas as well. The shockwaves flew at Mew and Alex and knocked them back, with Mew slamming back first against the ground and skidding for at least twenty feet before he stopped, completely drained of all remaining energy he had.

He lost his Dark Form almost immediately, with the black goop retracting into the pores in his skin as Mew laid there on the ground and grit his teeth. Though the act of losing Dark Form was painful this time around, Mew was more focused on the fact that he did not know what happened to Alex, and that if he was wrong about this clash then he still had energy left to use. Quickly turning his head to the left to look at Kairi from afar, he exclaimed as best as he can "N-Now's your chance Kairi! Take him down!"

Kairi glanced back and forth towards and sky and Mew as the sky turns blue once more, and with an understanding nod of her head she lifts her right hand up and prepares to activate the Neo Drive, only for the blur of a person's speeding figure to fly right by her from the right and head off towards the depths of space. As Kairi's hair flies in front of her thanks to the person's breeze, she just widened her eyes and went "H-Huh?" while Mew saw the blur in question and remarked "W-What the hell? W-Was that…?"

In the atmosphere of the planet, Alex floated in place with his arms limping slightly but a look of pure satisfaction on his face. He wiped some blood that was dripping from the sides of his mouth and remarked "Heh…Oh well, I'll just destroy this planet later. I accomplished what I set out to do, so now it's time to go…" Alex lifted his head up slightly and shook his hands a little, but then he sensed something odd coming from the planet that he hadn't noticed before the beam struggle ended. With a slightly puzzled expression he did not get to say anything before a voice called out behind him coldly with "There's only one place you're going, Alex Whiter…"

Alex widened his eyes as his heart skipped a beat, and within a second he turned around and saw behind him a boy wearing form-fitting black armor with angelic and demonic wings on the back of it and other design flourishes that fit his heavenly and hellborne form. It was Riku, having transformed into his Chaos Form after he made his way through the Stargadd portal, and he just stared right into Alex Whiter's dumbstruck and anger-filled eyes with a calm and cold glance. Alex only had a second to react with "YOU-?!" before Riku swung his right hand up and grabbed Alex by the front of his face.

Riku grit his teeth and widened his eyes before blasting Alex point-blank with a combination of light and darkness right as he let go. Alex's face was instantly singed by the attack as he was pushed back, but Riku did not give Alex a chance to fight back as he quickly punched him in the face with his right elbow, sending him hurtling around the circumference of the planet at high-speeds instantly. Riku swung his right hand behind him and flipped his diamond katana around so it was pointed downward before he let go of it and clenched his fist, flying forward after Alex to catch up with him in a few seconds.

Once on the other side of the planet Riku punched Alex straight in the chin as hard as he could, nearly breaking his jaw and making him move faster through space. Once Alex was directly below the katana Riku left floating in place, Riku teleported above the handle of his blade and slammed his right foot down on to impale it right through the center of Alex's body, with enough force applied to send the two of them plummeting straight down towards the planet. Within the atmosphere, Riku kept his focus on Alex while gritting his teeth and bracing for impact for the planet's surface.

It only took ten seconds for Riku to bring Alex crashing down on the planet's surface at least a good mile east of where Mew was at. The impact with the ground was softened by Riku using some effort to slow the descent down, but he still caused a large plume of dirt and rock to erupt the very moment he crashed against the ground. Mew and Kairi, who had joined back up on the ground, immediately turned to look at the event, with Mew weakly lifting himself onto his feet and remarking "K-Kairi…We need to get over there, quickly!" "R-Right!" Kairi replied, still wondering just what the hell was going on with his newcomer.

While the two of them tried to get over to the impact zone as quickly as they can, the dust from the impact fell down, with Riku in the center of it with one foot still pressed against the handle of his katana and a bleeding Alex pinned down to the ground. Riku lifted his foot up and stepped back, lifting his right hand up so the katana could be tugged right out of Alex's flesh and muscle. He then returned to his normal form and regained his double-helix handle-less sword, looking at it for a few seconds before glaring at Alex and saying "You know, you don't deserve to die on your own home world…But then again…"

With the full fury of his stare focused on Alex's body, Riku clenched his fist tightly and remarked "Neither did all those people you killed in the Marvel Universe." Barely retaining his consciousness, Alex grumbled out the words "You…interfering…bastard…" Riku just slanted his eyebrows at Alex and raised his sword up ready to deal the final blow, only for him to be stopped mid-swing by Mew exclaiming "Wait!"

Riku flinched and paused, glancing to the right to see his brother and an unfamiliar brown-haired girl sliding down the side of the crater to meet up with him. "B-Brother…?" Riku murmured out, and once Mew landed on the ground and walked forward a little bit with a weak but surprised look in his eyes Mew smiled slightly and remarked "Black hair, similar clothes…Heheh…It really was you I sensed, Riku…"

Riku widened his eyes slightly and remarked "I-I didn't sense your energy…I thought Alex Whiter had finished you off." Mew just chuckled and remarked while grasping his limping right arm "Hehehe…No big deal really, I just used up a lot of energy…Hey wait a minute, how do you know his name?" Mew looked a little puzzled after realizing that Riku let slip something he shouldn't know.

With an embarrassed look on his face, Riku remarked with a stutter in his voice "I-It's a really long story…I'll tell you once I finish Alex off here." Riku immediately went back to raising his sword for a final attack as Alex has fallen unconscious, but Mew swung his right hand out and exclaimed "Wait! Not yet!" Riku stopped midway again and glanced at Mew with a really puzzled expression, and him and Kairi simultaneously exclaimed "What?!"

Mew glanced at them both and explained "I know this seems like an out-of-the-blue decision…But there's some things I need to ask Alex. Besides, if he tries anything funny, we'll just stop him together, Riku." After a momentary pause to think about how ludicrous Mew's idea was, Riku nevertheless closed his eyelids and sighed before remarking "I guess there's no harm in you getting some answers out of him so long as he can't be a threat again. So we'll take him back to your house?"

Mew nodded his head, and Kairi folded her arms against her chest and remarked "I guess I do want to know how he knows about Aurians…And seemed to recognize me too." Riku glanced at Kairi and blinked a couple times while he dispelled his sword, followed by him remarking "I-I'm sorry to be rude…But who are you, and what do you mean by 'Aurians'?" Mew chuckled and remarked "Riku, I got a lot to tell you as well. But first, lets go home and try to get some answers out of Alex."

Riku makes the decision to pick up Alex's body off the ground with a hard tug, and after throwing him over his shoulder he remarks bluntly "Really wasn't wanting our reunion to happen like this brother." As the three of them lift off the ground ready to fly, Mew just chuckled again and remarked "Hey, lets be fair, badly timed meetings seem to be a trait shared by all three of us." They then quickly flew off back home, unfortunately having to leave the burned city behind them for the time being, as this matter was looking to be far more important than a simple city-wide act of destruction…

 _Next Time: The High Deities_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Eclipsing of the World**

In the aftermath of Riku's brutal attack on him, Alex's body was carried back to Mew's house, the place he used to call his own home until he became the Elemental Overlord. Riku had a hard time believing that he was back at this place after two years of traveling the universe, but the nostalgia he felt from being here was very brief when put up against the concerns he had for Alex Whiter's goals.

But unfortunately, Riku would have to wait a while to get some answers, as Alex was still unconscious and Mew, despite all of his bravado, was incredibly tired after fighting Alex with all of his strength and needed some time to rest and heal himself passively. That just left Kairi and Riku awake within Mew's house, and Riku was entirely focused on Alex's lying body while Kairi herself was focused on Mew's resting state.

The puncture wound in Alex's chest was slowly healing up, but it would take at least more than an hour before he'd be in any condition to answer questions. Riku hated having to wait that long in light of the possibility that Alex broke the final seal, but there was also the nagging feeling that just because the final seal was broken doesn't necessarily mean whoever was inside the cage would cause trouble right away. If some information could be forced out of Alex regarding this enemy, then at the very least this wait will be worth it.

" _And if nothing else…I can kill you at the end of this all, Phoenix of Destruction."_ Riku thought with a firm glare given towards Alex, something that Kairi happens to notice once she turns her head away from Mew. Kairi glanced at Riku for a few seconds, examining his appearance down the last bit of hair, and with a surprised expression she thinks to herself _"He looks just like his brother…The only differences are his black hair and slightly different colored clothes."_

Kairi tilts her head left and right a light and focuses on the slight aura coming off Riku's body. His aura is grey and ripples slightly around the head in particular, which makes Kairi remark in a puzzled tone _"But his personality is not the same. He's a lot more tense inside. I wonder what's on his mind?"_ Riku finally turns away from Alex and gives Kairi a brief glance, which causes her to flinch as he then says politely "You know, I haven't gotten your name yet."

"O-Oh! My name's Kairi…Kairi Aurora. Ummm…Sorry you can't get to properly introduce yourself, I already heard of you, Riku." Kairi remarks, a little embarrassed because of the situation at hand, though she was at least happy to see that Riku shared Mew's politeness. Riku raised his eyebrows a little and said "Oh really now? My brother must have told you all about me."

"Well, after I learned about you from another person the two of us met, yeah. So you've been traveling the universe for the last two years, huh?" Kairi inquired while laying her hands against the top of her kneecaps, and Riku replied with a short answer of "Yep…We'd be here a while if I told you everything I did though." He chuckled a bit at the end of that.

With a smile Kairi said to him immediately afterwards "Well you can tell me and Mew about your travels later…All I really want to know is why you suddenly decided to come back here." Riku closed his eyelids slightly and said while glancing over at Alex "It has to do with him. I found out he was going after my brother, so I came back to stop him…Though it seems my brother managed to hold him off, giving me a chance to nearly finish him off until my brother decided to start asking him questions."

Riku told Kairi a bit of a lie to hold off the truth regarding the cage and the seals he read about on the tablet, just to be on the safe side for now until he can trust her fully. After a few seconds of silence, Kairi remarked "You were trying to kill him…Guess I can't blame you, sounds like he's a fallen hero. But Mew is right…How do you know who Alex is?" Riku quickly replied with "I found out about him through some people in the Mushroom Kingdom…I-I also figured out that my brother had been given amnesia by Alex, but I didn't want to just come back and reveal that information to my brother…"

"I can understand that…But Mew had to deal with a lot of pain because Alex was the one to reveal the truth." Kairi pointed out, and Riku scowled and said with quiet bluntness "Just another crime that Alex is responsible for committing. I guess that does explain part of why my brother is so tired right now…I can't possibly imagine what he's feeling. But at least he's alive, and that demon hasn't managed to possess his body."

Kairi nodded her head in agreement, but then Riku glanced at her and after an awkward pause Riku sat perfectly upright and rubbed the back of his head before asking "I hope you don't find this question rude, but…Just what exactly are you, Kairi?" Kairi widened her eyes at the question and after a few blinks remarked "H-Huh? You don't know that?"

"I think I wouldn't be asking that unless I did…That's an odd thing to ask, really." Riku pointed out nonchalantly with a little laugh afterwards, and Kairi quickly waved a hand out and remarked "I'm sorry for asking that, but I heard you fought a guy named Gravitus. You mean to tell me he never mentioned what type of person he was?"

"That person with the black mechanical body? Didn't need to tell me anything…I could tell he was a monster when we fought. An incredibly powerful monster at that." Riku didn't exactly have fond memories of that horrid encounter with that man, even if now he'd be able to kill him easily. Riku then raised his head up slightly and asked "But you know who he is?"

Kairi nodded her head and said "He and I are what are known as Aurians. Our race is able to manipulate aura to our advantage in a variety of ways. Gravitus was a tyrant that used to rule over our people until me and Mew stopped him a couple weeks ago." Riku let out a sigh of relief and remarked "I'm glad he was stopped…Heh, sounds like my brother hasn't run out of excitement here on Earth though if he's helping people like you out."

Riku also thought to himself _"So she's just a person Mew decided to help out…Guess she has no connection to this whole affair besides that."_ Kairi remarked to Riku afterwards "I have a lot to thank Mew for. He turned things around for my people…Turned things around for me as well. He's a bit of an idiot, but his heart is always in the right place."

Riku nodded his head in agreement of that and then gestured out at Kairi with one hand and inquired "Well, I hope I'm not being too upfront with this assumption but…You're my brother's girlfriend now, aren't you?" "Uh-huh." Was all Kairi needed to say, and with him feeling as though he could trust her more Riku remarked in response "Well, sorry you had to get dragged into this mess."

"I figured insanity was going to be involved in Mew's life the moment he told me he had a clone that was his brother and that he had been to Mario's world before. Hehehe…" Kairi said while laying a hand against the front of her face and letting out a bit of a nervous chuckle, and Riku extended a hand out and remarked "Well I'll be here to help you sort out all this insanity then. I wouldn't dare intrude upon my brother's love-life, but if you ever get overwhelmed and my brother's not around then you always have me to turn to."

Kairi was shocked by the sudden offer Riku made, and she felt his aura even out and feel a little more warm in the process before she extended her hand out and shook on the offer, remarking in a playful tone as she brushed the side of her hair back slightly "Well aren't you a knight in shining armor." Riku chuckled a little at that and then said to Kairi "I got that from my brother, I'm pretty certain."

The two then let go of the other's hands and wait around for either Mew or Alex to finish resting. During that time, Kairi and Riku only occasionally spoke to each other about other stuff, with Riku going over some details regarding the worlds he went to and Kairi explaining the Aurian drives and how they function along with talking about Sancturia. After an hour had passed, Mew finally began to wake up from his slumber, the sound of his smacking lips being enough to alert Kairi and Riku of his awakening. After Mew sits up on the edge of his couch and looks forward to see Alex's body laid on the table, he turns to the right and sees Riku and Kairi sitting down on chairs near his dining table.

After blinking a couple times and rubbing his eyes, Mew remarks with tired sarcasm "Huh…So I wasn't dreaming that. You really did come back Riku…" After letting out a tired yawn Mew stands up to stretch, with Kairi standing up as well off her chair to remark "You doing ok now Mew?" After lowering his arms from above his head he glanced at Kairi with a somewhat tired expression and said "I'm fine…Sleeping in my home really recharges my energy since I can just take in the elemental energy of the mountain atmosphere. I'm surprise that Alex isn't up yet, though…"

"Maybe it's a good thing he isn't…He could've taken your body hostage before we'd be able to hold him off." Riku commented bluntly, and Mew immediately glanced at him and asked "Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me already Riku…I think I wanted an answer as to how you know who Alex. I guess since Alex is out you can take your time with that if you want, but-"

Riku stands up from the chair and with his head hung slightly he remarks "No, I'm not going to wait on this, you have the right to know why I ended up here." Riku takes a couple steps forward to get between Riku and Mew, and after a momentary pause he turns to look at Alex, pointing at him and remarking "I caught wind that Alex Whiter had been causing havoc to other worlds while I was facing the Mad Titan Thanos, and-"

Kairi and Mew's eyes widened upon hearing that dreadful name, with Mew lurching back slightly and remarking in a tone of unrestrained surprise "Thanos?! Destroyer of worlds and one-time wielder of the Infinity Gauntlet…? THAT Thanos?!" Riku crossed his arms against his chest and turned to glare at Mew a bit while remarking "Yes, that very same Thanos. As it turns out, he's the last survivor of the Marvel Universe…Apparently after something caused a being called the 'Phoenix of Destruction' was sent back in time ten million years and caused enough havoc to end everything…Except Thanos, who was sent hurtling through time thanks to the Infinity Gauntlet to escape the destruction…And Lady Death, who was separated into thousands of fragments."

Mew widened his eyes slightly and began rubbing his chin, remarking after a moment of thought "The Phoenix of Destruction? Some entity called The Reaper called Alex that one time…He also called me the Phoenix of Rebirth." "And I was told that I am the Phoenix of Balance. It seems the three of us were given these titles by some unknown entity…And it just so happens that Alex happens to have been given the same title as the entity that Thanos says destroyed his universe." Riku remarked quickly afterwards.

Mew lifted his head up slightly and pointed out to Riku "I get what you're saying here…But that's Thanos' information you're trusting there." "I understand that, but it's not just Thanos' story that I'm going off of here. Not long after encountering him, I wound up detecting some elemental energy, and happened to find Alex attacking Alpha at the M.S.I. base. Not only that, but he attacked you as well." Riku replied.

"There's a pretty big gap between attacking a couple of people and destroying an entire universe…Besides, I do think Alpha has plenty of good intentions, and he is capable of being a very nice guy…But he has his good share of secrets too. Did he tell you why Alex attacked him?" Mew inquired, and Riku looked shocked for a moment before he gestured a hand out and remarked "He didn't, no…But he did admit that whatever the case was, it was entirely his fault."

Mew snapped his fingers and remarked "Well there you go then." But then Kairi quickly looked at him and bluntly reminded him with "Are you just going to forget that Alex took out an entire city and killed thousands just to lure you out?" Mew widened his eyes and glanced at Kairi to say to her in a rather apologetic tone "Yeah I did for a moment. I was more wrapped up in the fact that Alex had taken some of my memories away at the time."

Kairi and Mew have a bit of a discussion about that matter in particular while Riku glares at Mew a little and thinks to himself _"I knew it…My brother's having a hard time considering Alex to be truly responsible for his actions because he met him prior to him becoming the Phoenix of Destruction. Actually…His emotions are likely just a mess right now beyond that. This is going to make it difficult to kill Alex unless I convince my brother that he is beyond redemption."_ At the end of Riku's thought Mew happened to say "Look Kairi, I just don't think we know the full story here. There has to be a reason Alex is acting like this."

"Yeah, he's evil. Just because he was a hero before doesn't mean that should be taken into consideration now. Gravitus used to be a nice guy too you know, and look what happened with him." Kairi remarked, and Mew turned to look at Riku while letting out a bit of sigh before he asked him "Look Riku, don't you think it's best that we just ask Alex what's up with the whole Phoenix of Destruction affair? It's not like he'll be in a condition to lie with the three of us around to stop him if he tries anything."

Riku's arms were still crossed and his eyelids were shut, and he thought to himself for a moment _"I can't risk that…Alex knows my brother too well from experience, I imagine. I don't know why I'm dodging the issue now, I have to tell them."_ Lifting his head up slightly Riku puts on a serious expression and begins to say to Mew and Kairi "Look, the thing about Alex is-"

Before he gets deep enough into the conversation, an explosion goes off outside the house, one big enough to shake the house itself up. Kairi and Riku are nearly thrown off their feet while Mew immediately turned around and saw some bright light glowing outside of the windows. "What the he-GHHH!" Before Mew finished his proclamation another explosion goes off, this one closer to the house. Mew is knocked down as Riku and Kairi start to get up, but he lands on the ground hands first instead of onto his back.

"What's going on?! Is Alex trying to distract us with an attack outside?" Kairi remarked in an annoyed tone of voice before Riku quickly commented "Elemental Overlords may be powerful, but we still have to be conscious to use our abilities…Something Alex still isn't, not yet. This is something else entirely…" _"And is likely related to the cage Alex broke open…"_ Riku said and thought in rapid succession as he lifts himself up quickly, helping his brother onto his feet while Kairi brushed some dirt off the back of her shirt.

Mew swung his right arm out and summoned his sword into his grasp, remarking in a blunt and pissed off tone "Well whatever it is, they are directly challenging us, so we'll just have to meet them on it! Come on Kairi!" Mew thrusts his left hand out in front of him and blew open the door before charging forward, and Kairi pulled her staff away from the table and ran after Mew. Riku, meanwhile, glanced at Alex and after a momentary pause had an idea. Walking over to him, Riku quickly dug into both of the boy's pants pockets, his fingers wrapping around a spherical object in one of them.

Riku flinched for a moment before he pulled out the black and gold stone inside, and he immediately mumbled to himself "The Gaia Temporis…Your big trump card, Phoenix of Destruction." Riku clenched the stone in his hand for a moment before putting it into his own pants pocket and with his teeth grit slightly "Well now it's mine, and it'll be the last thing I take from you besides your life…I'll be back shortly to finish this." Riku then quickly ran for the door to join up with Mew and Kairi outside.

When he arrived, he was greeted by a somewhat horrific scene. The mountainsides were set ablaze with pure and bright flames, with craters in the ground signifying where burning meteors had struck. The house was completely surrounded by these flames, and even the sky itself was caged by them. As the flames crackled, Mew was in the middle of swinging his left hand out at the flames to try and move them away, but his eyes only widened in shock when nothing happened to change their position even an inch. Mew raised the hand to his face and remarked "What's going on here? Why can't I control these flames?"

Riku stepped up beside Mew and glanced at him, asking quietly "Does your head feel dizzy? I had a couple times where I lost some of my elemental powers, and my head felt off because of it." Mew glanced at his brother and remarked "Not at all, I know my ability to control flames is still available. That's what makes this really confusing." Kairi takes her staff to her side and bends down slightly, putting some hard aura into it and remarking "Well I'll just blow through these flames with my aura! Stand back…RRAAAAH!"

Kairi thrusts her staff forward while it's grasped in both of her hands, unleashing all the aura she has in the form of a large typhoon towards the flames. The aura strikes the ground and flames with all it's got, tearing it up for a couple seconds. But when the typhoon comes to an end, the flames did not budge even still. "What?!" Kairi remarked in a tone of blunt surprise, and Mew planted his sword in the ground and remarked bluntly "Well this is stupid…What type of flames are we dealing with here?!"

"Hahahahaha! Looks like you guys are pretty weak for being Elemental Overlords and an Aurian!" All of a sudden, a brash and adolescent voice calls out to the three from the sky, and the three of them look up immediately upon sensing an absolutely gigantic surge of energy coming from the middle of the flames in between two of the mountainsides. After the sound of roaring flames can be heard coming from above, a gigantic dragon made of pure red fire splits through the flames in the sky and opens it's gaping maw as it flies down towards Mew in particular.

Mew rips his sword from the ground and prepares to counterattack, and Kairi swings her left hand out and exclaims "Take some of my aura, Mew!" before she prepares to give some of the aura to his blade to strength it's cutting capability. Riku suddenly draws his sword upon sensing something amiss in the air, and he runs in front of Kairi real quick to swing his sword around in a circle to reflect some projectiles that were aimed at her. Kairi finishes empowering Mew's sword in that time, and he swings it upward while remarking "Thanks for covering her Riku!"

With their teamwork, Mew is able to slice right through the center of the flaming dragon with the power of aura helping him out, and when all is said and done Riku glances down at the ground and sees a few small crescent bladed kunai stuck to the ground, but they are quickly picked up by a silver blur that Riku could not see the true form of. This naturally confused him, but he was able to follow the path the person traveled towards the sky, which was now split open enough to reveal a couple of figures.

"Hahahaha! Well look at that, you two managed to repel one of my weaker attacks!" The person who spoke earlier exclaimed happily, but then he suddenly disappeared from the sky only to reappear in a millisecond a few feet away from the trio on the ground. The person in question was a young adult male wearing bulky dark crimson knight's armor with the texture of cooled magma on the chest plate and a glowing tint across the arms and legs reminiscent of the surface of the sun. He wears gauntlets with pointed fingers fit for the gripping the handle of his body-sized broadsword, which has a cracked brown blade with cracks that glow like burning magma. On his shoulders and kneecaps are crystals that look like fragmented shards of lava. His face is scarred a little bit, with his hair being pure red and rather unkempt, and his eyes share both orange and yellow as their colors. He grins with a fervent look in his eyes, and as he slams his sword against the ground and sends burning cracks across the area and up the mountainsides he states arrogantly "Too bad that's all I'm allowing you weaklings to see. Now where is he?!"

Mew points his sword at the mysterious person and remarked "First you tell us what the hell you're doing here? Where do you get off attacking my home like this?!" The person raised their head up high and with an arrogant scoff he proclaimed "Your home?! You expect me to believe that YOU are the Phoenix of Destruction? I know that's a load of bullshit, so don't try and trick me like I'm sort of hot-headed idiot!"

Riku raised an eyebrow and thought to himself _"He's after Alex? Hold on a second here…This can't possibly be the person that was trapped in the cage. He doesn't look at all like that black monster…"_ "Maybe we'll provide some information if you tell us who you are." Riku quickly stated, and Mew looked at his brother with surprise on his face before gritting his teeth and saying his brother's name quietly.

The person just raised some heavy laughter and exclaimed "You got to be kidding me! Maybe I'll just burn your dumb asses to ashes for that stupid remark!" The person gripped his sword tightly and set it aflame so brightly that it was no wonder that the trio were almost blinded. "Brother, stop." Another voice calls out, this one being a little grated and distorted, but the tone was clearly masculine. The mysterious person quickly shut off the flames on his sword upon feeling the nudge of knuckles against his left cheek.

The second person Riku had sensed earlier had now appeared beside the boy. This person wears a thin plate of metal that covers their chest and back, with white straps of paper coiled around their chest. They wear fingerless gloves with a silver rune bracelet around each wrist, with straps of white cloth going from them to their broad ridged shoulder plates. The person's face is covered by a silver kabuki mask with golden markings and horns, and they have long silver hair that looks a bit like a mullet. On their legs are baggy pants with a ring of armored plates around the hips, and their feet are obscured by these pants. Standing side by side, it was clear the two were a good couples inches taller than even Mew and Riku.

This person glances and the man he called brother and says to him "We were told not to fight them…Not yet anyways." The brother scoffs and says "That's stupid, but whatever. I KNOW the Phoenix of Destruction has to be in this area, but I'll just have to lure him out later then." The brother then plants his broadsword across the back of his armor and crosses his arms together, tapping his pointed fingers against the back of his gauntlets before Kairi bluntly inquired "Who the hell are you two?! Stop wasting our time and give us answers!"

The masked man glares at Kairi and tells her "Don't be so cheeky, we're just about to give you some answers. But first, introductions are in order. Brother, for your rudeness, you can go first." After the masked man steps a couple feet off to the left of their brother, the brother glances at the masked man and remarks "Gah, you're just being shy as usual. Whatever…" The person then grins at the trio and says "You can call me Solaris Serravora…The Highest Deity of the Sun! I lord over every sun in the known universe…All puny gods and goddesses who claim to be above me will be snuffed out immediately!"

The masked man then quickly remarks while closing their eyelids visibly through the mask "And I am Lunis Callavira, the Highest Deity of the Moon." Unlike his brother, Lunis does not brag and keeps his introduction short and to the point. Solaris quickly glances at Lunis and remarks "Oh come on, you could at least try and brag a little more about your position. Intimidate them a little…"

Lunis folds his arms and remarked "You already shook them up with your initial attack, brother." '"Hmph, whatever." Solaris quickly and dryly replied before turning to look at the trio, who were remaining cautiously silent for the time being. Mew then bluntly remarked to the two "Highest…Deities? No wonder I sense a lot of strength coming from the both of you." Mew grinned slightly but was trembling a bit in the wake of those two's power, even if they hadn't yet shown it all.

"Answer me this then, Solaris, Lunis…Where did you two come from? And why are you after the Phoenix of Destruction?" Riku quickly inquired, and Solaris quickly exclaimed "Ha! You're wondering where we came from?! You should know, you Elemental Overlords are responsible for freeing us from that blasted cage in the first place!" Mew widened his eyes and remarked "We didn't do anything to free you two! We don't even know what cage you're talking about!"

Lunis glared at Riku and remarked "Sure you don't…But I suppose that's not important enough to press you both on. We are certain of the Phoenix of Destruction's involvement in this matter, at the very least." Riku lowered his eyelids and wondered just how Lunis could have known about his knowledge of the cage, but didn't say anything for the moment as Solaris quickly swung his arms out and remarked while cracking his fingers "Goddamn it's been great to be awake again though! Two-thousand years in a stinkin' coma would keep any weakling down, but not us! Hahahah! Once I find the Phoenix of Destruction, I'll be sure to give him the greatest fight of my life!"

As Solaris let his solar aura flare up around him wildly, Lunis quickly had to nudge his knuckles against his brother's face and remind him "You're losing focus of your mission here, cut it out. Remember what you're supposed to say and get on with it before we take too long." "You are seriously a buzz kill sometimes Lunis. Whatever, fine…" Solaris throws an annoyed remark at Lunis and then glares at the trio, drawing his sword out again and slamming it against the ground before exclaiming with all of his excitement "As of now, your planet Earth is destined to be the property of the Vortexians, and this place shall becoming a burning battleground for my amusement!"

The trio widened their eyes together, and Mew and Kairi grasped their weapons tightly and exclaimed together "Like hell you are!" Solaris quickly swung his sword upward above him and with widened eyes and an overexcited look on his face he exclaimed "SILENCE WEAKLINGS!" Pillars of roaring flames suddenly erupted all across the mountain range, and the sky became engulfed in fire once more, with enough pressure coming from the flames in the sky to send heated gales down towards the five.

As Solaris continued to raised his glowing, crackling sword into the air he bluntly told the trio "I am not called the Highest Deity out of hyperbole! I can summon flames anywhere I please so long as a sun or star is in the same galaxy as my target! As of right now, I'm already basking parts of your world in flame, including the waters themselves! So now…You're going to start playing by the rules of the Vortexians, or I'll just incinerate your entire planet all at once! Got it?!" After a few seconds of his brother showing off his power, Lunis grabbed Solaris by his wrist and told him "Stop, you're going out of control."

Solaris immediately loses the tension on his body and starts to lower his arm, causing the pillars of flame to disappear, though the threat of his flames across the planet still stood true, as Mew and Riku could both sense. But they were not going to tempt this Highest Deity of the Sun any further with resistance unless they saw an opportunity. Solaris grinned and remarked "Hehehe…See, at least you're getting it now. So, here's what's going to happen now." Solaris placed the sword onto his back and gestured a thumb over his shoulders while remarking "I'm going off to visit an 'old friend'…And you two weaklings are going to find me the Phoenix of Destruction and bring him to me while I do that. Meanwhile, my army of Vortexians are going to have some fun."

"What do you mean, have fun? And just what are these Vortexians you keep talking about?!" Kairi exclaimed bluntly, and Lunis remarked dryly "You will just have to find that out all on your own. Our time here is at an end, and we both have something we have to take care of now." Riku suddenly grips his right hand tightly and starts to reach for his pants pocket, remarking as he says in a very serious tone "You're right…Your time is up."

Riku suddenly pulls the Gaia Temporis from his pocket and points it at Lunis and Solaris, taking Mew entirely by surprise while Kairi, Lunis and Solaris just stare at the object with a dull look in their eyes. After Mew lets out a slight gasp he says through his grit teeth "Riku are you nuts?! You took that straight from Alex's pocket!" Riku just ignores Mew entirely and says to Lunis and Solaris "I'm going to use this to wipe you from time itself. I don't care how high of a deity you two are, you're both bound by the rules of time."

Riku concentrates on the Gaia Temporis ready to use it on both Solaris and Lunis, but after a few seconds the stone doesn't even glow or show any signs of working. Riku widens his eyes in dumbfounded shock, and having experienced the stone's power himself Mew was wondering just why it wasn't working either considering Alex used it during their battle once. Solaris just looked at the stone and scoffed, remarking to Riku bluntly "God you are a real piece of work. Still, that was pretty fucking funny that you tried to take us out with that, so I'm just going to let this little bit of defiance slide. Now get to work and find me the Phoenix of Destruction, or I won't be so humored next time."

Solaris then turned around and disappeared in a puff of solar flames, a shockwave coming from his feet showing that he had leaped off the ground. Lunis glares at Riku and remarks quietly "If you survive, we will meet again soon enough. Do not try and treat this as a game." Lunis then disappears in a flash of light, and the flames from Solaris' power remained on the mountains and across the grass, but strangely they did not threaten to spread further. Riku grit his teeth and looked at the Gaia Temporis before exclaiming "Damn it! Why didn't this thing work?! The original Elemental Overlord supposedly made it so this works for us alone!"

Mew glances at Riku and asks him "Why did you grab the Time Stone?" Riku glares at Mew as he puts the Gaia Temporis into his pocket and remarks "I can't believe we didn't do it sooner. It's dangerous to let Alex hold onto it, otherwise he would have used it against us." Mew quickly says to Riku after that "Well yes, but you could also piss him-"

"I really don't think we should be focusing on Alex at the moment you two! Did you not just hear that Solaris guy state that he's set parts of the planet on fire?! And we don't even know what these Vortexians are or what they're doing at this very moment!" Kairi quickly stopped the arguing between Mew and Riku with some blunt reminding, Mew glanced over his right shoulder and remarked after dispelling his sword "You're right Kairi, we really should go after those two."

"We can't just leave Alex's body back here though. We should just give him up to that Solaris person…Then he can just take care of him for us." Riku pointed out, and Mew folded his arms together and said "We're not doing anything like that until we get some answers out of him. But we're likely going to have to wait on that until we deal with Solaris and Lunis and the Vortexians." As Riku just grit his teeth slightly out of annoyance that his brother was being naïve regarding Alex's morality, Alex's voice was suddenly heard behind the trio, and he giggled a bit before remarking "The replica is right you know…You have a much bigger problem to deal with at the moment."

The trio turned to the entrance of the house and saw Alex Whiter slowly walking out through the still open front door, his eyes now back to normal and the hole in his body completely healed up. There was still some dried blood on the shirt, but he didn't seem to care about having that cleaned up anytime soon. As Kairi cautiously grabbed her staff ready to defend herself if things went haywire, Mew glanced at Alex and said "How long have you been up for?" Alex stuck his hands in his pockets and remarked with a grin on his face "Long enough to hear those two gibbering idiots speak with you three gibbering idiots…"

Mew just chose to ignore that insult and remark "Then you know what we're up against. Are you with us, or are you against us?" Riku widened his eyes upon hearing Mew offer teamwork with the Phoenix of Destruction, but Riku did not need to say anymore as Alex reared his head back and began laughing before remarking "Now why would I work with the people responsible for freeing those two? Especially when one of them is a thief who took something of mine?" Alex glared at Riku as he made that particular remark, and Riku only wondered how Alex could possibly know that.

Mew tapped his fingers against the top of his folded arms and stated "We had nothing to do with freeing them." Riku glared at Alex and told him "Yeah, if anyone's responsible for this, it's all on you, Phoenix of Destruction." Alex just started laughing again and exclaimed "Get real! What proof do you have that I am responsible for anything?!"

Riku didn't say anything at first, and Alex raised his right hand up and tauntingly remarked "Come on…I'm waiting for an answer." When Riku still doesn't say anything to him Alex clenches his fingers into a fist and sets it on fire while remarking "You know what, it doesn't matter at all. I miiiight be willing to forgive your thievery if you just give me back the Gaia Temporis. Perhaps I will even work with you three fools to stop those two High Deities."

Riku doesn't even have to think about this matter, and with a hand grasped within his pockets around the Gaia Temporis he remarked "I'm not giving this up to you. You can't be trusted with this level of power." Alex stretches his fingers out in front of him and remarks "And what good is that stone doing you? You've already realized you can't use it…After all, after my foolish replica used it once before, I forcibly modified it so it will only work for me from here on out. It's better just to give it back to me."

"Never." Riku bluntly remarked, and after a momentary pause Alex shrugged his shoulders and said "You know, I wasn't giving you a choice. But so be it…" Alex thrusts his right hand forward and Riku suspected he would be attacked and he immediately prepared to summon his sword, but instead of attacking Alex uses a strange force to make a sphere of light appear from his palm. The light materializes into the form of the Gaia Temporis, and Riku quickly feels that the object had been taken out of his pockets.

Alex grasped the Gaia Temporis tightly and with a firm grit teethed expression he remarks "Now then, you've served your purpose…So stay out of my way or I'll obliterate all three of you without mercy." Mew didn't even hesitate to remark "Alex, wait a second! What's going on here?!" Alex grinned and remarked "Why don't you ask your pathetic little clone?" and that was the last thing he said before he made the Gaia Temporis release a flash of light and he warped away from the area without a trace.

Mew only had time to swing his right hand out, but upon seeing that Alex was gone he paused in place for a moment and murmured the boy's name in disappointment that he was gone. Kairi, however, focused more on what Alex said and quickly glanced at Riku to ask him "What is he talking about Riku?" Mew acknowledged the inquiry and turned to look at his brother at well, who was slightly angered at the moment that Alex somehow knew about his knowledge of the tablet. Riku then took a deep breath to calm himself down and then turned to look at Mew and Kairi before remarking "I was trying to explain this to you both before Solaris and Lunis showed up…"

Riku folded his arms together and remarked "While I was in the Mushroom Kingdom, I was trying to find some way to combat Alex Whiter by examining the tablets in the ruins of the Genesis Temple. During that time I came across a mysterious tablet that depicted the original Elemental Overlord fighting some black monster, and it talked about a cage that the beast is currently trapped in. There were three seals on it, and they would only break if done in order…The first seal would break if nine planetary guardians were defeated, the second would break if the monster's herald lost his symbol, and the third would break if two Elemental Overlords fought. I safely assumed that Alex was attempting to break these seals and was likely to go after you, brother. But unfortunately it seems I was too late."

Once Riku was done with his explanation, Mew and Kairi widened their eyes and glanced at each other, with them both letting out the same worried remark of "Uh oh…" before Riku lifted his head up and said "Ummm…What's up you two?" Kairi glanced at Riku and with a sigh and a slap against her forehead she stated "I should have known that cage Gravitus was talking about was more than just a place to store energy. Mew and I must have broken the first seal when we defeated the Planetary Aurians."

"And now that you bring that up, that energy that I repelled must have come directly from Solaris and Lunis waking up from their slumber. But while that answers the question of who broke the first seal, who could have possibly been this monster's herald?" Mew remarked while sounding a bit embarrassed for not putting facts together sooner, and Kairi bluntly remarked "Who cares about that right now?! Sounds to me like Alex purposely wanted to free this monster from his cage, and that Solaris and Lunis are just the start of something much more terrifying!"

"Kairi's right…The tablet didn't give the monster in question a name, but it warned that if he is freed, it would put an end to the entire universe. And if High Deities like Solaris and Lunis are following this monster, and the Elemental Overlord was forced to seal him away instead of killing him…Needless to say, he must be incredibly strong." Riku remarked with some degree of concern in his voice, but Mew just confidently remarked "Then we'll just have to stop that monster ourselves."

Riku glanced at his brother and told him "You're being a little too confident about this whole thing, brother." Mew shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands beside them before remarking "It's just another universe ending threat, I already dealt with that before. Right now, we should be more concerned about Solaris and Lunis and the Vortexians, since they are right in the middle of threatening our planet at this very moment. Then we'll go after the monster."

"That's a good point Mew. Solaris and Lunis have been out for a couple weeks…It sounds like that monster just got freed after Alex fought you, so we should have some time before he shows up." Kairi says while looking at Mew, and Mew then glanced at Riku and gestured out to him before asking "So what do you think?"

Riku rested his knuckles against his chin and remarked while thinking things over "More than likely we'll find Alex while going after Solaris and Lunis too. Then we shouldn't waste anymore time here. Lets go see what's going on with the world right now, and hopefully we can find out who the Vortexians are and save people from Solaris' flames, since he appears to not be using very hot ones to harm our planet." With the trio in agreement of their next move, they turn towards the opening between the mountainsides and leap off the ground, ready to go after Solaris and Lunis…And the mysterious Vortexian army they spoke of.

 _Next Time: This Bizarre War of Ours…_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Army of Remnants**

Flying away from his mountain home, Mew, Riku and Kairi are quick to notice how Solaris' flames are affecting the planet. He has not been sparse with the flames, placing them across great distances along the surface of the planet below the trio. Forests were aflame, the skies were bright and orange with not a single cloud in sight, and it was horrific to imagine just how far Solaris' attack went across the planet. Mew grits his teeth and remarks "How could he do this? He's killing thousands with these flames…And not just humans, but creatures as well…"

Riku glared at the flames as the three of them flew over them, remarking as he did so "He's only given us a warning so far…These flames are capable of burning if you get really close to them, but otherwise…" "Flames are flames! It doesn't matter how hot or cold they are, if anyone's close enough to them, they are going to burn! Can't you two put the flames out?" Kairi inquired, exclaiming her concerns out of fear for how much the people and creatures down below were suffering from the sudden appearance of these flames.

Mew swung his right hand out to the try just that, unleashing a giant spray of water from his palm that falls down upon the flames…But even with the flames being tamer than usual the water could not do anything to the flames and immediately turned it all to smoke. Mew shook his head in disappointment and closed his eyelids, regretting his inability to do anything, with Riku commenting afterwards "The only way these flames are going away is when Solaris dies. As much as I hate it, we can only hope that humanity and the animals of this world are able to hold out for a bit…"

Kairi looks down and sees some humans trying to drive or run away from the flames, but it was proving to be difficult as they just keep getting in the way of each other. Kairi lays a hand against her chest and remarks after clenching it into a fist "That bastard is going to pay for this…He'll pay for harming our planet!" Mew glanced back at Kairi and said to her "I'm glad you're ready to fight Kairi, but first we have to find him. Did you get a good grasp on his aura while he was spouting off?"

Shaking her head was all Kairi could respond with, but as Mew looked puzzled by that she had to take a moment to explain "His aura is the same as the very flames he's spreading. It'd be very difficult to find him right now." Riku turns around while floating upright, remarking to both Mew and Kairi "Lets pause for a moment here and get our facts straight about the situation." After Mew and Kairi stop flying and float upright in the middle of the sky Riku asks "Do any of us have a clue where Solaris might be?"

Kairi remarked "The only thing he said was that he was looking for an 'old friend'…But I don't know who that could be. It's not Alex at least…" While Kairi rubbed her chin in thought, Mew looked at Riku and remarked "Say Riku, do you really think Solaris set fire to the entire planet?" Riku look at his brother and remarked with a bothered expression on his face "I don't know. He told us it was in his capacity to do so, and I don't think he was just speaking hyperbole…But he could also have been bluffing as a means of motivating us to either find and stop him or go after the Phoenix of Destruction for him."

Mew then snaps his fingers and remarked "Then lets test that out. We can't sense Solaris' flames directly, but we can always focus on the environment of the world itself. If I cover the western part of the world and you cover the eastern one, we should be able to determine if Solaris was telling the truth or not." Riku nodded his head in agreement of that plan and both he and his brother quickly close their eyelids and raise their hands up in the directions they want to sense the elemental energy of the planet itself.

In a matter of seconds, they feel the pulse of energy through the world, and quickly find out just where Solaris has spread his flames across the planet. When they are done, Mew opens his eyelids up to a puzzled expression on his face while Riku remarks "It seems only the North American continent is being affected by Solaris' flames. It doesn't lower the danger he presents, but at least it's not the entire world being harmed…For now. Who knows what will set that High Deity of the Sun off." Riku then turns to his brother and notices the concern on his face, leading to him inquiring with a gesture of his right hand out "Something up, brother?"

Mew said "I'm detecting something odd near the city where I fought Alex…There are patches of ground where I can't detect any elemental energy. It's covered up by some sort of…fog? I don't know how to describe it really." Kairi folded her arms together and remarked quietly in a melancholic tone "If it's the only lead we've got right now, then we should head over there."

The trio thus decide to make their way north, but along the way there Mew glanced back at Kairi and noticed the melancholic expression on her face as she continued to look down at the ground, and thus he asked her in an empathetic tone "What's happening down there is really bugging you, isn't it?" Kairi raised her head up and exclaimed "Of course it is! We should be helping these people and animals down there!"

"I hate it too Kairi, don't get either me or my brother wrong here…But if we spent the time helping out every person we could, then Solaris will just cause more havoc across the planet. And that's not even getting into what Lunis or those Vortexians could possibly be up to. Going after Solaris as quickly as we can is our best bet for saving the most people possible." Riku calmly pointed out, though the tone he took showed subtly the regret he felt towards the perils the planet was dealing with at this moment. Kairi just growled slightly before remarking "Then when we finally find that bastard, I'm not showing him any mercy."

"None of us plan to…But save some of that energy for Alex Whiter. Once we find him, he's the one who needs to pay for causing all this to happen in the first place." Riku remarks with the utmost seriousness in his voice, leading to Mew remarking "Only if it turns out he's actually responsible for the crimes you've accused him of Riku." Riku glances back at his brother and tells him "He's not going to admit anything. The fact that he ran away and tried to point the blame on us for freeing Solaris and Lunis just shows that he truly believes that he's in the right."

"W-Well…I mean…" Mew's faith in Alex being innocent was shaken by the point Riku was making to him, and he awkwardly turned his head around while trying to figure out something else to say in response to that. Riku just looked back on ahead and thought to himself _"He can't be serious…Can he? Does my brother really believe that Alex isn't guilty even with all this evidence to the contrary?"_

Riku widened his eyes for a moment and thought to himself _"Wait…What if Alex managed to affect my brother's mind at some point during their battle? No…He'd just try and wipe my brother's memories again, wouldn't he?"_ He didn't know how exactly to feel about this line of thinking, and as he glanced back at his brother again he finds him in the middle of a conversation with Kairi about this whole affair with Alex Whiter. Riku quickly said to them both after a sigh "Just forget I said anything."

After he looked back on ahead, Riku thought to himself _"I should keep an eye on my brother whenever I can though…Just because it's unlikely doesn't mean it's not out of the question. If Alex turned my brother to his side, I don't know what I'd be able to do to reverse it…"_ As the trio were now approaching the city, Mew looked at Riku from behind and thought to himself with a slightly concerned expression _"I-I'm sorry Riku…But this is just really difficult for me."_

Down below, the trio saw how the city was set on fire yet again, with the only thing untouched being the rivers and lakes nearby. Not like there was much left of the city at this point thanks to Alex and Mew's earlier battle, but it was hard to imagine just how the populace was reacting to all of this insanity. Mew remarked upon stopping and floating above the city "This is ridiculous…I can't even begin to imagine how the populace of the city are handling all this. First a battle breaks out between two entities capable of destroying their planet, and then these flames show up entirely out of nowhere…And they don't know why any of this is happening."

Kairi clenched her hands close to her chest and remarked in a saddened tone "All those people have lost their homes, their place of business…And possibly their lives as well. How do we even begin to explain or apologize to them all for this?" Mew glanced at Kairi and told her honestly "You don't have to explain yourself at all Kairi. Most of the blames rests on mine and Alex's shoulders." Kairi swings herself to look at Mew and bluntly tells him "Screw that! I could have done something to help during that fight! Even if it wasn't going against Alex, I could have helped protect the citizens!"

"And risk the possibility of everyone finding out about the Aurians? You made the right call Kairi, even if you dislike it. You're supposed to keep your people's city a secret from the world, after all." Mew remarked, laying a hand on Kairi's right shoulder as she hung her head slightly in guilt. After a couple seconds, Kairi bitterly bit her upper lip and said while clenching her fists "J-Just stop talking right now, Mew. Direct me to Solaris, the Vortexians, I don't care what…And I'll let my fists and aura do the talking for me."

Mew could feel the intense anger from the way the muscles in Kairi's shoulder tensed up, and he calmly moved his arm away and turned to face Riku, who was taking a moment to survey the city below. "You find anything Riku?" Mew inquired while letting Kairi keep her anger for the time being, and Riku nodded his head as he finished waving his hand out in front of him. After pulling back on his arm, Riku glanced over his shoulder and remarked "I found that same disturbance you did. It's odd though…It seems to be entirely immobile."

"Well lets go check it out. We'll approach it from the ground though." Mew remarked, an agreement reached between the trio with a nod of their heads and a brief acknowledging hum. The trio then descend from the sky towards the ground close to where the fog-like mass was at, landing behind a burning building and choosing to slowly walk their way over to the mass, with Mew and Riku cautiously drawing their sword behind their backs and wondering why they aren't detecting any energy from this mass.

Peeking around the edge of the building closest to the mass, Mew and Kairi decide to leap right over to the building on the other side to cover another angle of vision while Riku stays behind at the first one. They make sure to not get as close to the flames as they can get, as while Mew and Riku aren't affected by the heat, Kairi could get burned even with her alien biology protecting her. There were some wounded humans close by peering at the black foggy mass bundled up on the ground, but just like Riku remarked the mass didn't move at all…At least not like a sentient creature would.

It bulged out in multiple directions but mostly stayed in place, letting out an unsettling gurgle and some metallic clinks periodically. The humans that weren't frightened by the flames around them cautiously approached the black mass and poked it, but it didn't react to their presence in the slightest. Mew glanced at the mass for a little bit and then turned to look at Riku, whispering to him from a distance "You seeing this? What could this possibly be?"

Riku remarked "I don't get it…This looks like darkness, but you and I should be able to sense it if that's the case. Kairi…Can you sense any aura coming from it?" Kairi held her hands out past the edge of the building and focused on the black mass, but it only took her a couple quick seconds to pull back and shake her head. Mew then remarked "This must have to do with the Vortexians. One of us has to approach it."

Riku and Kairi immediately look at Mew with anticipation, as though they expect him to go straight to the black mass. Mew looked at them both and with an eyebrow raised he remarked "Really? Well, alright, I guess I opened myself up for that one. Just be prepared to back me up…" Mew then held his sword behind his back as Kairi got out of the way, allowing him to walk past the edge of the building and slowly make his way over to the black mass. Mew's heart beat slowly as he made his way over to it, and upon him being within five feet of the mass Mew notices how it suddenly stopped bulging outward.

In fact, the mass began to settle down, flattening entirely on the ground until it was a foggy puddle with a lumpy edge around it. Mew then grabbed the handle of his sword in both hands and drew it in front of him, carefully putting some flames around the blade while remarking to the humans who were watching him "You might want to get out of here." The humans didn't react at first, more enamored by the blade of fire Mew wielded than they were concerned by the words he gave to him. Mew thought to himself while nervously gritting his teeth _"Damn it, what am I thinking here? Where else are they going to go? They are surrounded by Solaris' flames…"_

The moment the humans looked away from him and towards the puddle again, Mew glanced at it and noticed that it was beginning to rise up from the center, with some more mechanical clinks being heard as some strange creatures began to form from the puddle. The masses the creatures were made from bulged around for a few seconds before solidifying into a cohesive form, but their appearance greatly puzzled Mew. He lowered his sword slightly out of curiosity and raised a couple of his eyebrows.

The mass had created three crabs, that were half as tall as Mew is, with their bodies being made of the black fog, but now the fog had a red and orange blended edge to it that stayed consistent regardless of how the creatures moved around. The claws of these crabs were large and likely capable of crushing a regular human's skull with ease, and there were some spikes attached to the insides of these claws to give them even more destructive potential. "Hmmm…" Mew cautiously hummed before he tightening the grip on his sword and increased the intensity of his flames, at which point a pair of foggy yellow eyes popped up on the center of the crabs' heads and they let out a deflating hiss.

One of the crabs then leaps at Mew at surprisingly high speeds, with Mew raising his sword up ready to swing it out to defend himself. The crab floated in mid-air and pinched Mew's blade in it's right claw, applying enough force to hold it in place while it let out a deathly bubbling sound from it's mouth. Mew felt an odd paralyzing sensation in his wrists the moment the crab clenched down on his blade that prevented him from moving his sword, and with a heavy tug the crab forced the blade to be pointed diagonally and caused some slight pain in Mew's bones and muscles.

Then the crab swung it's other claw out and extended it's reach past his body to clamp Mew by his neck and quickly get him pinned to the ground. The crab landed on top of his body and kept his grip on the sword and neck, and Mew just wondered why the hell his flames weren't doing anything to affect this creature. Even with the pressure of the crab's strength, it wasn't able to draw blood from Mew's neck…No, that was a job better left for his two companions, who quickly leaped beside their comrade and snapped their claws before readying to clamp them down upon Mew's head.

"Get off of him!" Kairi suddenly exclaimed before she threw her aura covered staff straight at the crab on top of Mew, striking it hard enough to push it right off of him without harming Mew himself. The center of the crab was pierced by the staff and electricity shot out of it slightly as it slid across the puddle of goop, and now that Mew was freed he quickly swung his arms up while coating them with diamond to strike the claws of the other two crabs, hitting them hard enough to repel the claws back and giving Mew enough time to kick himself onto his feet and leap back.

Kairi runs up beside Mew, and as he rubs his slightly reddened neck while applying aloe vera he created from the pores in his fingertips he remarks "Thanks for the save Kairi." Kairi swings her right hand out and creates an aura whip to lasso the end of her staff to try and pull it back to her, wrenching it free from the center of the crab's body and bringing it back to her grasp. "What the hell are these things?!" Kairi inquired bluntly, leading to Mew pointing his sword at the crabs while remarking "I get the feeling that these are the Vortexians."

"What? B-But they are just crabs…" Kairi was completely puzzled by how such simple creatures could be the loyal soldiers following Solaris and Lunis, even with their gruesome appearance. As the crab that was punctured begins to heal up and starts to scuttle their way back over to continue the fight, Mew remarks "Yeah, but they are crabs that were able to hold my sword back and pin me to the ground. Something's up with them, that's for sure…Say, where's Riku?"

That question is quickly answered when the ground trembles and some large walls of stone rise up around the area, forcing the humans to step back out of the way before they get caught up in the center of this madness. Riku then steps up beside Kairi with his sword drawn in his right hand while his left hand was just getting out of snapping his fingers. Looking around, Mew saw that Riku had utilized the buildings around them as a corners for his rocky cage. There was plenty of room for fighting in, with the total area of the cage encompassing a mile of space.

"Now we won't have to worry about the populace being collateral." Riku remarked while focusing his attention on the three crabs, who snipped their claws together above their heads while standing back in the center of the puddle. The puddle began to bubble and roar simultaneously, the ground around the area trembling as the puddle itself shrank down and began to create even more crabs to join the battle along with a new type of Vortexian soldier.

This new Vortexian did not take on the form of a creature, and instead formed five bipedal golems with bodies that when hunched over caused cracks of foggy magma to appear across their backs. Their hands lacked fingers and were cubical in design, at least until they split apart with even more cracks of magma across their length. They had tiny legs with large, bulky bodies, but seeing as they were at least eight feet tall the size of their legs were not a fault. When the puddle was drained, there were also at least a hundred of those Vortexian Crabs gathered around, very nearly filling the free space in front of the trio and thus forcing some of them to crawl up onto the rocky walls.

But as some of the crabs stuck to the walls Riku noticed how the stone became blackened, as though it was somehow decaying slowly. He kept a note on this as he remarked "Lets take these Vortexians down and work on evacuating the citizens afterwards." Kairi grasped her staff and took on an offensive stance by bending her knees and exclaimed angrily "No arguments here!" Mew glanced at her and remarked with a nervous chuckle "Lets split up first, at least."

Mew followed up on that by immediately grabbing a chunk of the Vortexians' attention by leaping to the right and landing against the wall, where he then swung his sword out and created a crescent of electricity that sent out piercing arrows of high voltage down at the Vortexian Crabs. But a swam of the crabs just leaped at him as the electricity just seemed to completely not effect them, with their bodies so much as not even changing in the slightest in response to the electricity.

Mew let out a simple "Huh?" before backflipping a couple times as the crabs tried to puncture him with their claws, which broke holes into the rock wall easily and caused the edges of the impact area to become blackened. With the crabs all lined up in a straight row, Mew swung his sword back behind him like it was a javelin and threw it forward while coating the blade in pure flames. The tip of the blade punctures the front of the first crab and the amount of force Mew used in his throw caused the row of crabs to be pushed against each other, but Mew doesn't manage to destroy a single one of them even with his efforts.

"…What's going on here?" Mew murmured to himself right before the front crab grabs Mew's blade and pulls it off his face, throwing it right down into the swarm of other crabs, burying it underneath them all. Mew swings his right hand out and tries to call his sword back to him, but nothing happens. In the moment it takes for Mew to notice the lack of reaction from his sword, a couple of the crabs run up to him and sock him in the face with their claws, sending him tumbling back further up the rock wall as he noticeably feels some scars being made across his cheeks.

Mew kicks up onto his feet and immediately lays a hand to his chin, rubbing one of the scars on the lower end of his cheek and immediately swinging his right hand out to start building up a ton of wind, throwing it all out in a burst that strikes the incoming crabs hard enough to blow them back a good number of feet. Mew then leaps off the wall and takes flight, accidentally running into Kairi's back after a couple seconds. As the two flinch Kairi swings her aura-covered staff out and strikes through a couple of the Vortexian Crabs that were leaping her way.

In comparison to Mew's efforts, Kairi actually manages to strike through the Vortexian Crabs cleanly, the dark fog around their body disintegrating as it falls back down to the ground in a docile manner. Mew notices this and was rather surprised by how well she was dealing with their enemies, especially when he looks to the right and sees Riku throwing some fireballs while leaping backwards across the horizontal width of the wall to no avail against his pursuing foes.

Mew pulls away from Kairi while she remarks "Keep an eye on your surroundings Mew!" She was speaking angrily, but mostly because of her feelings towards the Vortexians' presence more than anything Mew did. As the golems, who are standing in a circle at this very moment, began to shoot cracks of magma from their raised arms Mew pulled away from Kairi and began dodging them with rapid movements through the air while remarking "Heh! I must be doing pretty badly if you're giving me advice for once Kairi! Say, why are you able to harm the Vortexians?!"

Mew exclaimed to make sure Kairi would hear him amongst the clinking of the Vortexian Crabs. As Mew whipped his right arm out at the ground and made a diamond spike to erupt out underneath one of the golems, Kairi remarked in a confused tone "What are you talking about?! You should be able to harm them easily!" She proves this by detaching her staff into it's whip form to lash it around one of the crabs, using it as a blunt object to smash into four other crabs to take them down.

Mew widened his eyes for a moment and then turned to look at Riku, who continued to have difficulty dealing with the Vortexian Crabs and was starting to get surrounded. Riku grinds to a halt after leaping back across the rock wall and then crosses his arms, charging them both with electricity and swinging them outward to create a field of electricity big enough to strike the swarm of Vortexian Crabs, but they are just pushed back and undamaged. Riku quickly leaps back as the crabs charged at him again, and after a flip he floats in mid-air above Kairi and Mew.

Riku then snaps his fingers after swinging his left hand up, making a second wall of rock appearing behind the wall the swarm of crabs were currently on, then he causes the first wall of rocks to combust against the Vortexian Crabs, creating a wall of explosions that bury them whole. Riku waits a few seconds for the smoke to clear before he notices that the Vortexian Crabs were still alive, the strange fog that composed their bodies disrupted a little but their bodies appearing unharmed. Riku let out a slight "Tch…!" of annoyance as he swung his hand in front of his face and then turned back to look at Mew, who was still under fire from the golems.

"How the hell are we supposed to deal with these Vortexians, brother?" Riku inquired without noticing Kairi's success in these endeavors, and after Mew watched how the diamond spike he brought not only up failed to put a dent into the Vortexian Magma Golems but also began to decay he remarked to Riku while flying backwards "The Vortexians aren't affected by our elemental powers!"

A couple Vortexian Crabs leaped off the wall and stuck themselves to Mew's back, causing him to lurch forward as they began to try and swipe at his head. Kairi turned around and flew at the Crabs, swinging her staff above Mew's head to deal with them easily. Mew then lifts his head up and thanks Kairi with a nod of the head, but then he suddenly gets an idea upon seeing her success so far. Gesturing a thumb over his shoulder, Mew remarks "Hey Kairi, can you take down some of those crabs on the ground so I can recover my sword?" "Yeah sure, but can't you make it vanish and reappear?" Kairi inquired while quickly gliding behind Mew, swinging her staff out to send a series of aura spheres down at the swarm of crabs, blowing them up once they impact and clearing the ground to Mew's sword.

As Mew quickly swings his right hand down and calls his sword over to him while Kairi swings out of the way, he remarks in response to Kairi's inquiry "I couldn't. The Vortexians were blocking out the ability to do so. You seem to be the only one not affected by whatever is stopping me and Riku from using our elements." Kairi then remarked as Mew swung his sword above his head and looked down with a smile on his face at the Vortexian Magma Golems "Well that's great! Then both of you can't do anything!"

"Not true. Just keep fighting, I'll handle myself from here on out." Mew remarks confidently before suddenly dropping straight down, swinging his sword right through the center of the Magma Golem easily. Now his attack was successful, and as the Magma Golem was split in two it let out a bellowing roar and promptly exploded to release a burst of foggy magma. Mew grinned and said "Gotcha…" quietly before turning himself around and swinging his sword horizontally to slice through two more of the Magma Golems.

Riku noticed Mew's discovery and with a smirk he remarked "I really should have considered that…" He then summons his sword and performs a 360 slash in an instant to cut down the swarm of Vortexian Crabs that tried to leap at him. With Mew and Riku able to use their blades, the brothers quickly work together to slice apart the swarm of Vortexians, speeding back and forth across the battleground and nearly crossing with each other a couple times. Kairi just kind of dealt with those that were trying to scramble off, remarking in a quiet tone after she chuckled "Well, at least we got over that obstacle."

In a matter of seconds, the Vortexians were dealt with, and Riku skids to a stop on the center of the arena and snaps his fingers to drop the rock wall around them. Mew looks at the ground after landing and notices the black fog was shrinking down to nothingness, with a strange mix of crunching noises being heard before it vanished all the way. Once Kairi was on the ground, the trio decided to discuss the matter of the Vortexians. "Well I'm glad we figured out that using our swords normally is still an option. That could have gotten hairy quickly unless we changed forms." Mew remarked.

"Yeah, better we don't reveal our trump cards this early. But still, that was a surprise…I wonder just what the hell those Vortexians were made of that caused your elements not to work on them. Mew, Riku…Do you have any ideas?" Kairi inquired with a nervous look on her face, and the brothers could only shake their heads and give no response. "It's just something we'll have to keep an eye out for in the future. This was just the initial forces for the Vortexians…I can imagine they'll be much tougher the closer we get to Solaris and Lunis." Riku remarked.

"Well we're not going to let our guard down. Still, it's weird to be fighting an army for once…" Mew remarked while rubbing the back of his head, and after Kairi nudged the side of his body with her elbow he looked at her and remarked "What's up Kairi?" Kairi gestures ahead of her and Mew and Riku both look to see the humans they saw earlier shivering in fear surrounded by flames. They looked to the trio with some bit of awe in their eyes, likely because of their success in stopping the strange black mass.

Mew dispelled his sword and folded his arms together, and after tapping his fingers against his elbow he remarks "…I know we're in a hurry, but we should probably do something to help these guys out." Riku nodded his head in agreement of that, and after turning to look at his brother he remarked "I'll handle this. I can make a large raft that will be able to carry everyone. Out in the water they should be safe, since it seems the Vortexians are only going after us. You two can try and find Solaris, if the Vortexians are here, he should be somewhere nearby." "Alright, but be careful out there Riku." Mew said in a concerned tone.

Riku nodded his head and smiled before turning around and stating to the humans "I'll get you all to safety! Just try and stay calm and you can make it out of here!" Riku then runs forward to help the humans out, with Mew smiling a little and remarking "It's a start, but we'll make sure to help whoever we can along the way. Right now though, we need to go after Solaris."

Kairi looked around a little bit and waved her hand above her head while it was surrounding in a thin aura, and after a moment she paused and saw some remnants of flaming aura within the air. "Someone flew by here a few minutes ago…Either it's Alex or Solaris." Mew widened his eyes upon hearing Alex's name and then remarked "Either one would be worth finding. Which direction is the aura going?"

"North…And it seems to be descending somewhere around…" As Kairi moved her hand down to point at the location in question, an explosion of pure flame suddenly goes off between a series of somehow standing buildings past the fallen remains of a few others. The explosion blows most of those buildings down and spreads smoke across the sky, and then a figure bolts forward through the explosion and appears to tackle some sort of unseen enemy. Mew immediately reacts to the explosion and the spike of energy he felt by remarking "That's Alex's energy! Either he's fighting a Vortexian squadron, or he somehow intercepted Solaris before us!"

"Well what are standing around here for then?! Lets get after him!" Kairi exclaimed before grabbing the middle of her staff tightly and sprinting forward, and after a momentary "Tsk…!" Mew ran after her, keeping up with her pace beside her as they run across the slanted fallen buildings and try to get closer and closer to the location of Alex's energy. But all of a sudden, the two ram right into the side of an invisible energy, which reacts to their presence by creating a crystalline shockwave of hexagons throughout it's entire expanse. The barrier covered the area behind them that they just covered, meaning it was created not long after they moved away from Riku.

Mew swung his sword around after turning around, remarking as he saw some small puddles of black fog spread across the ruins of the city "So it's a trap…Fine, we'll take down these Vortexians and get back after Alex quickly." Kairi nodded her head in agreement and held her staff diagonally in front of her in both hands before coating it in aura, while the puddles began to form into more Vortexian soldiers. These Vortexians had the wings, body and head of a Pterodactyl but the sharps claws of a Raptor sticking out from their tiny bodies. These Vortexians, with their green and grey mixed edge of grisly fog, could be dubbed as "Cretaceous Vortexians".

But unlike the last swarm of Vortexians, this time they were joined by a giant, swirling black and red vortex opening up in the center of this flying swarm. Mew and Kairi were curious to know what type of powerful Vortexian would emerge from this portal to join their brethren, and it didn't take long for a guttural growl to echo out from within the depths of vortex, followed by an arm with four talon-like claws emerging through the vortex and grabbing onto the side of it. This set of claws were attached to an odd silver gauntlet with an ancient greek-inspired face etched onto it and a mane of red hair attached behind said gauntlet.

The second arm thrust through the vortex and grabbed the ground below it, and while this arm didn't have a gauntlet on it shared the four claws the other limb had and a clear view of it's pinkish, muscular flesh that were went up it's arm like thin strands of paper. But it was only when the head of the creature stuck itself through the vortex that Mew suspected that they weren't dealing with a Vortexian here. The head of the beast had two large and noticeable red horn with golden veins near the tips, and the color of the horns fit in well with the pure but tiny blood red eyes on the beast's black head, which was a combination of draconic and demonic, with the beast having two rows of fangs in it's mouth and four strands of red flesh sticking out from his cheeks.

As the gigantic monster pulled itself through the vortex it lashed it's head and long, muscular neck around while roaring in a tone of sheer rage, and it wasn't long after when the entirety of the monster pulled itself through. Most of it's hulking body consisted of broken strands of golden flesh and fur mixed together, with a large chunk of his chest broken away to reveal an unnatural mass of glowing pink and violet energy. Though it's legs were just as big as his arms, it preferred to hunch forward and hang it's head close to the ground, swinging it's blood-tipped tail back and forth as it surveyed it's surroundings and sniffed the air slowly.

After a few seconds of standing around, the creature turned to the Vortexians and let out a roar so loud that it shook the very air. Without warning, the creature leaped at the flying Vortexians and ripped some of them right apart with a swing of it's claws as the vortex it came through shut. The Cretaceous Vortexians that remained dived down at the monster and clawed at it, but their sharp claws couldn't even scratch the skin of this beast and only served to irritate and eventually anger it. The Vortexians' demise was swift, and all it took was one more swipe for them to be defeated.

The creature slammed it's claws against the ground and roared triumphantly, but quickly it swung it's body around to point itself at Mew and Kairi, and with a couple scratches of it's right claws against the ground it growled and appeared to be moments away from leaping at the two. It was unknown what was stopping it from moving right then and there, but Mew took a moment to glare at the creature with widened eyes while Kairi remarked in confusion "Why did that thing attack it's kind?"

"Kairi, that's not a Vortexian…It's called the Corrosive Hannibal, and it's an Aragami…A horrible monster from another world entirely." Mew said while shaking his head in disbelief of what was happening. Kairi quickly glanced at him and said with a stutter in her voice "A-Another world? Someone brought a creature from another world to fight us?!" Mew quickly responded by nervously gritting his teeth and pointing out "But I don't get why…The Corrosive Hannibal is a fearsome creature on it's world, but against us it's nothing special."

Mew would regret saying that, as it didn't take long for an object to descend down through the top of the barrier. It was a sphere that radiated with unholy crimson light all around the sky, blanketing even the flames in it's impure glow as it floated down in front of the Corrosive Hannibal, making even this fearsome beast pause with it's allure. The sphere's glows lowered in intensity before it suddenly rammed itself right into the energy within the monster's chest, fusing itself perfectly to it and causing the Corrosive Hannibal to stumble back while roaring in agony.

Mew suddenly sensed a horrible spike in power from the monster as the glow from the sphere spread out between the membranes, and the core of it's body darkened and became pure red, with the eyes of the beast glowing bright as it leaked out from the corner of it's sockets. The Corrosive Hannibal slammed it's claws against the ground with enough force to cause a tremor throughout this confined area while the black on it's body slowly became a dark violet-red color that pulsated like neon lights.

When the sphere had finally finished extending it's grasp onto the Corrosive Hannibal, the beast remained eerily calm for a couple moments before it adjusted to the pain and lifted it's head up to glare at Mew and Kairi, who could tell that the beast had suddenly become a lot more powerful than it was before. The monster raised it's head up high and let out a roar so powerful it cast away whatever clouds in the sky and echoed out towards the horizon, making the very air quake as well. As Mew gripped his sword tightly and grit his teeth he mumbled to himself "What the hell is going on here…?"

 _Next Time: No Way Back_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Devourer of the World**

Confronted with the unexpected presence of the Corrosive Hannibal, Mew grips the handle of his sword tightly and remarks while he had the chance "Kairi, you're not exactly familiar with this type of beast, are you?" The Corrosive Hannibal, which had been uncharacteristically docile for a few seconds, now lunged quickly at the two after acquiring the power boost from that mysterious crimson sphere. It only took the beast a moment to reach the two with it's gauntlet claw raised into the air ready for a swing, and Mew swung his sword up while coating it in flames to strike at the claws of the beast in order to repel it, though he failed to cut through the monster's claws at the same time, making his flames spread out in a small wave.

Mew quickly leaped to the right while the Corrosive Hannibal swung itself around and tried to strike both Kairi and Mew with it's tail, Mew swung his right hand out in front of his body and quickly created a lightning shield to block the tail even as it's sharp bladed tip discharged electricity from the shield as it grinded against it. The ground was swept up into a dusty circle as Kairi landed on the side of a ruined building and exclaimed while gripping her staff in both hands "I'm not attacking this thing until you explain what's going on here anyways!"

Mew was glad for Kairi's cautiousness, and as he swung his sword around once and gripped it in both of his hands he remarked "Well I don't know why this thing is here or what powered it up, but this monster is called a Corrosive Hannibal. It's one of the strongest Aragami, which are beasts-" Mew is interrupted when the Corrosive Hannibal rose it's hulking body up and coated it's right claw in black and violet flames, letting out a sky shaking roar as it tried to slam it down upon Mew, who widened his eyes and then performed a swift movement backwards, sliding along the ground as the claw slammed against the ground and sent cracks through the ground that erupted with black flames a moment later.

The Corrosive Hannibal peered at Mew through the flames with it's glowing eyes and panted a little, sounding to be in agony as it ripped it's claw from the ground and ran right at Mew again, as though he was the only thing it desired to hunt down and slaughter. Before Mew was attacked again, Kairi bravely leaped into the air and coated her staff in hard aura, throwing it down at the Corrosive Hannibal's head as she predicted it's movements, and once her weapon connected she dropped down and kicked the top of her staff as hard as she could with one foot while gritting her teeth and applying as much force as she could to force the Corrosive Hannibal's head to the ground.

Kairi then leaped right off of her staff and pulled it to her with a whip straight from her hand as she landed on the ground beside Mew and skid her feet around in a small circle to kill her momentum. As the Corrosive Hannibal spent a moment raising itself up off the ground barely fazed, Mew quickly explained "Anyways, Aragami are beasts composed of hundreds and possibly thousands of corrupt and semi-sentient beings called Oracle Cells. In the case of this Corrosive Hannibal, it's supposed to have been born when one of the weaponized Aragami called a God Arc was taken off and the rogue Aragami cells-"

The Corrosive Hannibal lets out an angered roar again and swings it's gauntlet in front of it's body before charging straight at the two, but Mew and Kairi swing their weapons in front of themselves and collide with the gauntlet to use all of their strength in order to push back against the impressive strength of the monster's charge. After a few seconds of fighting back Mew and Kairi both unleashed some flames and aura from their weapons in a single pulse that was capable of forcing the claw of the Corrosive Hannibal above it's head in recoil while pushing the two back.

Mew didn't waste a moment and continued to explain while the monster recovered "-took over the body of it's controller, a guy by the name of Lindow. But…It's odd, I can only sense the monster itself and not a body within. While that does concern me a lot, at least this means we can fight the monster without worrying about harming any innocent life." Mew ignited his blade with pure flames and swung it upward to send a crescent wave of fire at the Aragami, striking it's face hard and making it lurch to the left slightly, while Kairi coated the tip of her staff in a sharp aura spike and pulled back slightly, remarking as she prepared her attack "But how do we defeat this creature?"

"Just trying and hit the glowing core as hard as you can. I know that sounds simple, but the Oracle Cells can't function if it's core is destroyed." Mew remarks as the Corrosive Hannibal suddenly swung it's head forward and leaped backwards, slamming down atop a ruined building to destroy it the rest of the way before it swung it's tail around to create friction against the ground and cause black flames to form in a ring around itself. The Corrosive Hannibal then roared and the flames flew out in all directions, and the flames rise up to become a wall, with some of them climbing the sides of the dome protecting the area.

Kairi handled the wall of flames by leaping right over them and throwing her spiked staff straight at the core of the Corrosive Hannibal while Mew dispelled his sword and quickly punched at the ground to dig himself down underneath the flames. Kairi's attack met resistance when all of a sudden the stripes of golden flesh began to mesh together to protect the core, and the spike of aura on the staff plunged only through that. Kairi swung her right arm above her chest and remarked "You aren't getting off that easy!"

She then swung her arm out and poured some aura into her staff, causing the spike to extend out further and puncture part of the Aragami's core with a sharp thrust. The Corrosive Hannibal immediately reacted with pain and swung it's right claw to grab onto Kairi's staff, ripping the thing right out of it's body and throwing it away from itself without so much as a single moment of hesitation. As Kairi notices her staff go flying she quickly swings out an aura whip from her wrist and predicts where her staff would head so she could easily catch it and pull it right back to.

Following up on Kairi's efforts, Mew dug out of the ground directly below the Aragami's chest, but it seems the beast was able to detect the vibrations in the ground and thus leaped to the right, only getting clocked across the right of it's head by Mew's fist before he gets out of the way. Mew levitates in place and thrusts his arms at the beast to unleash a quick spread of flames against the Aragami's body, but the Corrosive Hannibal raises his gauntlet to protect himself from most of the flames while letting out an annoyed growl.

It coated it's left claws in black flames and waited for Mew's attack to end before swinging them upward to send three slashes of flames at his midair opponent. Drops to the ground and summons his sword as the Aragami fires three black spheres from it's mouth at, and after cutting through them in a single prolonged slash he remarks "You know Kairi, this guy's weak to divine energy. Lets use that against him to finish this quickly!"

Mew quickly goes for the white trigger on the handle of his sword with his thumb while Kairi nods her head and lays her hand atop the Angel Drive on her bracelet, but the moment the two click their respective activation triggers they are both rather shocked when nothing happens. The brief pause Mew takes as he clicks the trigger twice more gives the Corrosive Hannibal enough time to strike at him by running forward and ramming him with both of it's horns, not stopping until Mew is slammed against the barrier.

The swift and sudden pain from the impact causes Mew to temporarily drop his sword while the Corrosive Hannibal held him against the barrier and jerked his head up and down to rub the length of his horns against Mew's chest, ripping into his shirt slightly and nearly getting close to cut into his chest until Kairi flies down beside the Aragami's head and swings her staff as hard as she could like a bat. Whatever could be considered bones in the Aragami's head crack from the strength Kairi uses and it's head swings to the right from the impact.

Mew is freed from the horns of the monster and he quickly lands on the ground to pick up his sword, leaping backwards to put some distance between him and the monster while Kairi goes to town on them, coating her staff in hard aura and smashing it against the monster's face a few times until she actually manages to crack off the left of the Corrosive Hannibal's face, revealing some disgustingly detailed flesh and projection of bones representing the red extensions behind it's cheek. Kairi then drops to the ground and swings her staff upward to hit the underside of the Aragami's head and forced the front of the body to rise up temporarily. Kairi then tried to go for the chest again, but the Aragami quickly recovered with a flash of light coming from it's eyes and with a swing of it's body it brought it's right claw down atop Kairi.

Kairi was pressured as the Corrosive Hannibal spread it's claws out to prevent her arms from moving and kept her pinned flat against the ground while it opened it's mouth wide and prepared to fire off a blast of pure black flames. Mew came to the rescue by pulling out a still intact steel girder from one of the ruined buildings and throwing it at the Corrosive Hannibal with terrakinesis, bending the length of the girder around the Aragami's mouth so the very moment it fired off it's attack the black flames recoil back into it's throat.

As the flames caused the cracks in the neck of beast to split open from recoil, Mew pulled the girder off the Aragami's mouth and swung it at his chest as hard as he could to try and break through it's flesh and make the core vulnerable again. He manages to crack the flesh slightly, but the Corrosive Hannibal quickly recovered and with it's claws coated in black flames it grabbed the girder and melted it down to liquid form quickly. It then turned to look at Mew with it's devilish grin and as the black flames spread out from the sides of it's mouth it slowly begins to reconstruct the damaged skin on it's face.

Mew could hear every individual cell working to reconstruct the face, but he wasn't going to let the Corrosive Hannibal finish his effort and with his sword drawn he leaped at the Aragami and went to attack it with his ignited sword. As Mew brought his sword downward with all of his might, the Aragami quickly fired off another blast of black flames from it's mouth to try and counter the attack. But Kairi quickly got to her feet and blocked the Aragami's attack by summoning a barrier of aura around their mouth.

The flames did not recoil on the monster this time around and they quickly were increasing the luminosity of the aura to indicate that it could break through, but Mew had plenty of time to swing his sword and strike the recovering side of the Corrosive Hannibal's face, cleaving the new cells right off and making them fly away against the barrier, and the moment they make contact they disintegrate. Mew then lands on the ground and swings his sword around his body before igniting his sword with large flames, throwing as hard of a slash as he could against the Corrosive Hannibal's chest to cut right through it's flesh and strike it's core.

The Corrosive Hannibal stumbled back a little bit from that attack and hit the edge of the barrier, with it quickly putting it's claws in front of it's chest to protect itself from Mew attacking again. Mew then leaps back the moment his sword connects with the Aragami's gauntlet, proceeding to hold his sword cautiously behind his back while taking a few steps back as Kairi bombards the Corrosive Hannibal's body from the air with a barrage of exploding aura spheres, making a series of flashes appear across his body until Kairi lets up.

Kairi then lands on the ground and exclaims "Hey! Why can't we use our other forms?!" Mew responds bluntly with "It has to do with this barrier! Someone's interfering with our powers! Probably not going to let us have our forms back unless we stop the Corrosive Hannibal." The Corrosive Hannibal then slams both of it's claws against the ground and raises it's head up high to let out a roar while the searing scar on it's chest heals up, with Mew nervously chuckling before he remarked "Of course, that does leave us a little handicapped."

With it's claws dug into the ground, the Aragami erupted with black flames out of all of the pores in it's body and then fired off some flames at the ground from his mouth, causing a small tornado of black flames to spin across the ground towards Mew. Mew leaped and rolled to the right and then swung his sword forward to send a few wind blades at the claws of the beast, specifically targeting the gauntlet so the onslaught of attacks would break it apart slightly.

As cracks formed in the gauntlet, Kairi knew what Mew was planning and she quickly positioned her staff in front of her body to form some aura at the front of it into a large sphere, pushing the sphere once it's completed at the gauntlet itself. It blows up on the cracks and shatters the gauntlet, revealing a large tumor of flesh underneath it. The Corrosive Hannibal rips it's claws from the ground and stumbles back in pain while raising a claw to his head, shaking the pain off quickly while something works to regenerate the broken gauntlet.

The Aragami lunges at Mew and tries to strike him with it's claw, but Mew leaps straight up and spins his sword around before bringing it straight down atop the Corrosive Hannibal's head. But the Aragami reacts to Mew's attack by stopping itself midway through it's lunge and pulling back on his body, making it so Mew ends up striking the ground instead. The beast then open it's mouth and wastes no time in firing off a few black flame spheres into Mew's body.

Each fireball spreads out some flames from impact, with Mew being pushed back while he lifted himself back. The flames scuffed his body slightly and he flinched from each fireball, with Mew thinking to himself _"He's picking up on my attacks now…For whatever reason, this beast has some intelligence…"_ Mew then brushes some blood from his cheek onto the back of his right hand while the Corrosive Hannibal stood upright and let out a roar once more, swinging both of it's arms out and summoning forth two triangular blades of black flames attached perfectly to it's wrists.

Mew widened his eyes for a moment, temporarily forgetting that the Aragami could do such a thing until the monster started swinging the blades at him while standing partially upright. The blades were swung at him in quick and rapid arcs, with Mew forced to leap back as the Corrosive Hannibal tore up the ground with the tips of it's blades, swinging up waves of black flames from each impact it made. It gets to the point that Mew feels more comfortable standing his ground and creating a shield of fire around his body to protect himself from the Corrosive Hannibal's violent attacks, giving Kairi a chance to try and attack the creature from behind.

But as Kairi leaps up and tries to stab through the back of the Aragami to hit it's core, the Corrosive Hannibal suddenly turns itself around after swinging one of it's swords and attacks Kairi with a backhanded slash from it's right blade. Kairi quickly draws her staff up to protect herself but the end of the blade manages to cut through her shirt and inflict a wound on the side of her body while hitting her hard enough to create a black shockwave and send her flying head-first into the barrier.

As the crystalline effect ripples through the barrier, Kairi falls to the ground on the side of her body while the Corrosive Hannibal stands up tall and roars at her for her attempt to try a sneak attack. Kairi grits her teeth and finds her vision blurred from the roughness of the impact, but she is able to hold onto her staff and slowly push herself back onto her feet. The beast was preparing for another attack though and slowly began to approach her, with Mew immediately leaping through his barrier and with his sword grasped in one hand he repels the blades of the Corrosive Hannibal as it turned to strike him.

Mew swung his sword a few more times to keep the Corrosive Hannibal distracted, repelling the Aragami's blades for a few seconds while Kairi gets a chance to finish standing back up. Kairi lays a hand on her forehead and shakes off the throbbing pain as well as she can, and once she's done she glares at the Aragami and slams her staff diagonally against the ground. With the staff coated in aura Kairi uses it to press a button down on the staff, causing the thing to separate into differing segments much like a whip.

Kairi sends the whip out right towards the left wrist of the Corrosive Hannibal, quickly wrapping around it tightly enough that the beast couldn't move it anymore, and his blade is plunged into the ground. Mew then slips past the creature's other blade and goes to plunge his sword into the core of the beast. With his sword coated in orichalcum to increase it's strength greatly, Mew pierced into the flesh and stabbed the core directly with a great deal of force, using tons of flames through the tip of his sword to burn at the core as much as he could until the Corrosive Hannibal used it's brute strength to shatter the aura whip and try to attack Mew with his blade.

Mew let go of his sword and flew back in an instant to land on the ground, skidding back a little as he then swung his right hand forward to dispel his sword for the moment. The Corrosive Hannibal dispels it's flaming swords and as black flames spurted out of it's mouth it laid his claws against it's chest and stumbled back, roaring in agony as the core pulsated a couple times irregularly. Mew thought it was possible that the Aragami was defeated with that attack. However, the beast removed it's claws from it's chest and slammed them both on the ground, hanging it's head low to the ground while pushing it's back up high.

As the Corrosive Hannibal pants a black blood from it's mouth, it lets out intervals of tired roars in a violent manner, as though it was experiencing the greatest pain such a creature could possibly feel. Then, the back of the creature starts to crack apart, the skin literally ripping off bit by bit until some grotesque liquid could be seen dripping off the raised skin onto a pair of wings that were rising up out of the back of the skin flaps. "What…the hell?" Mew murmured to himself as the wings spread out from the back of the Corrosive Hannibal.

The wings were large and thick enough to be able to carry the weight of the mighty Aragami, with red skeletal bones acting as hands on the back of the wings. The membranes of the wings are composed of a thinner variation of the golden strips of flesh covering the core, with rippling veins spread throughout the entire thing. The Corrosive Hannibal stops feeling the pain in it's body and lifts its head up, and as though the wings were always a natural part of it's body the Aragami flaps them to shake off the liquid and quickly takes flight into the air.

"Was this supposed to happen?!" Kairi remarked as the flapping of the beast's wings creates enough of a gale to require her to yell, and Mew exclaimed in response "No! This beast never showed anything like this…Whatever that strange sphere was, it must be accelerating the evolution of the Corrosive Hannibal's Oracle Cells. We need to take it down quickly or it might start adapting to your aura or become stronger than us!"

The Corrosive Hannibal opened the hands on the ends of his wings and summoned forth two black flame swords in them similar to what he was using before, and then it takes energy directly from his now stabilized core and compiles it into a sphere directly between both of it's claws. It fires the sphere down towards the center of the ground, and Mew could tell from just looking that it was an explosive attack coming their way. Mew and Kairi quickly leap off the ground and take flight towards the Corrosive Hannibal as the sphere connects with the ground and explodes, unleashing a bright blast powerful enough to level entire buildings.

The ground is wiped clean of any further ruins and flames, leaving nothing but the flattened ground on the battlefield. The Corrosive Hannibal rolls through the air to the right before Mew can attack with his sword, and then the beast opens it's mouth and fires a series of fireballs at him and Kairi. Mew counters with a series of wind blades coming out from the swing of his sword, but he miscalculates the move and ends up accidentally letting a couple of the spheres slip through and strike him.

Both spheres blow up upon contact and push Mew back, and this time the damage is enough to draw blood from Mew's mouth. As Mew quickly wipes it off he thinks to himself while slanting his eyebrows downward _"That hurt more than it should've…Even with this monster's increased strength. Something's up, and it's reminding me a lot of those Vortexians…"_ But Mew could only go off some assumptions here, and it bugged him that so much was happening at once today. He tried to hide his annoyance with a smirk and laugh, but Kairi just had to look at him to recognize that he was worried about something.

She let out a melancholy sigh before focusing back on the Corrosive Hannibal, who flew straight at the two and tried to puncture them both with it's swords. They raised their weapons up and blocked the swords at the tips, but the problem with this plan was that they forgot the Aragami's claws were now open. The Corrosive Hannibal took it's claws and tried to plunge them into it's opponent's chests. Mew and Kairi couldn't willingly take the risk of keeping their guard up in this condition, so they quickly flew back before the Corrosive Hannibal was successful in it's attack. The Aragami then flapped it's wings to fly backwards, landing itself directly on the side of the barrier with it's claws digging deep into it to keep it stable.

Mew then looked at Kairi and remarked "Alright, I think it's time we end this. Wouldn't you agree Kairi?" Kairi nodded her head in agreement and with a firm expression she exclaimed "We're going to lose Alex if we don't get rid of this distraction!" Mew and Kairi then flew next to each other and placed their backs together while pointing their weapons at the Corrosive Hannibal, both of them putting on a smile before they swung their weapons out in front of them while grasping it in one hand.

"Ready?" "You know it!" Mew and Kairi respectively said to each other before Mew and Kairi thrust their weapons forward and unleashed two tornadoes, one of pure flames and another of aura. The two tornadoes spiral towards the Corrosive Hannibal and grow in size. The Aragami leaps off the barrier and takes flight to try and get away from the tornadoes, but Mew and Kairi guide them towards their intended target without losing their focus. The Corrosive Hannibal fires off some fireballs at the tornadoes to try and break them, but the tornadoes are moving fast enough to swallow up the fireballs easily.

The Corrosive Hannibal rolls to the right and folds it's wings inward slightly before swinging it's claws in front of it's core again and trying to compile energy again for another attack while Mew and Kairi are stationary. Mew and Kairi fly off away from the spot where the attack would hit, making sure they wouldn't even be near the edge of the explosion. They dive down and land on the ground, swinging their arms closer to their bodies so the tornadoes would be guided down in a sweeping arc towards the underside of the Corrosive Hannibal.

The two tornadoes finally combine together, both now as tall as the Corrosive Hannibal itself. But when merged together, the tornado rapidly expands into a towering one that swallows the Aragami within the center of it's expanse. The shining tornado of aura and flames sticks in place while Mew and Kairi prepare their next move, with Mew casually tossing his sword over to Kairi, who quickly examines it's shape and size and replicates it with aura twenty times over, placing all the copies of the blades in the ground around her in a ring.

Mew smiled and remarks in a complimenting tone "Your copying has gotten pretty good. I could probably put my elements on those replica blades if I tried hard enough." Kairi tosses Mew back his sword and swings her right hand forward while asking calmly "You think twenty will be enough?" Mew gripped his sword tightly and with a grin he remarked "Might be a little overkill truthfully, but so long as I can attack the core we'll be good."

The wings of the Corrosive Hannibal were nothing more than a detriment at this point, as they were caught up in the tornado, and even as it swung at the tornado with it's wingswords and launched fireballs it was unable to break through and only put cuts and dents within the surface. But the worst was yet to come for this mighty Aragami. Kairi pulled the twenty swords from the ground and threw them into the tornado, and the tornado became one with the blades and threw them all rapidly at the Corrosive Hannibal.

Mew and Kairi proclaim together as the aura swords tear apart the Corrosive Hannibal's wings and some of the flesh protecting it's arms and core "Aura Blade Tornado!" After a few seconds of attacking the Aragami, the tornado breaks open, and without the ability to fly the Corrosive Hannibal starts to drop towards the ground. The core was now exposed, and Mew gripped his sword tightly and ran forward while holding the weapon in front of his body for a couple seconds. Once below the Corrosive Hannibal he raised his sword upward and exclaimed "This ends now!"

Mew thrusts the sword right into the Corrosive Hannibal's core with all of his strength, creating a spear of flames to increase the length of his attack's reach, and he manages to pierce right through the back of the Aragami, putting a large hole through the creature. The Corrosive Hannibal stayed suspended in the air for a moment as it's core bulged around, the cells within unable to function anymore. Mew pulls his sword from the beast and slides backward, letting the Aragami fall to the ground and writhe around for a few seconds. The core explodes within the Corrosive Hannibal, and his body lurches around for a bit afterwards.

The beast finally falls entirely flat against the ground, with every cell in it's body crumbling down into nothingness, dying off rapidly without the core to sustain it. But before the Corrosive Hannibal died all the way, the glowing sphere that went within it's body rose up out of the pile of dying cells and went to the center of the arena. After a brief flash of light, the strange sphere shatters apart, and with it the barrier falls down. Mew stands upright and pants a little bit, and after brushing some blood off of his chin that dripped out of his mouth from overexertion he thinks to himself _"Yeah…I think I'm right…That sphere was made of the same energy the Vortexians are using. But why was it this time I could use my elements against that energy? Grr…Solaris, Lunis…What the hell are you two doing here?"_

"Brother!" A concerned cry calls out to Mew from afar, and he lifts his head up and turns to the right to see Riku running straight at him with a concerned look on his face. While Riku went towards him, Mew recognized that Alex's energy signature was gone, and while looking around he also saw a tower of smoke near where Alex was fighting. Something had been destroyed there, but Mew wasn't going to waste time investigating the matter while this more important ordeal was on his mind. Turning to face his brother, Mew remarked in a puzzled tone "What took you so long?"

Riku stopped in front of Mew, and as Kairi ran over to the two of them Riku quickly remarked "I couldn't reach either of you. Once I felt that energy spike from Alex and felt you two going towards it, I quickly got the survivors onto that custom raft and tried to catch up with you. But then you disappeared and all I was left with was a barrier in my path. I couldn't even get around it to go after Alex." Riku was clearly infuriated with that last part as evidenced by the way he gripped his right fist beside his body, but he tried to keep calm since his brother and Kairi were safe and quickly asked while looking between them "What the hell happened?"

Kairi quickly explained while Mew dispelled his sword "We were attacked by a creature from another world…What was it called again Mew?" Mew sighed and remarked "I'll have to show you that game once this whole thing blows over Kairi…" Though he took on a barely joking tone, Riku took offense to Mew's behavior and bluntly remarked "Now's not the time for this brother, what were you attacked by?"

"It was an Aragami…Specifically the Corrosive Hannibal. You should have memories of that, right Riku?" Mew remarked in a more serious manner, and Riku laid a hand against his chin and said in response "…Yeah actually. But that doesn't make any sense…Why would something like that be here?" Kairi pointed out quickly "It was brought here through a portal of some sort. Clearly against it's will too, since it attacked the Vortexian squad sent to ambush us. But then it was given a strange sphere and not only did it become a lot stronger, but it was hellbent on killing us both."

"Great, so not only do we have to worry about the Vortexians, Solaris and Lunis, but now someone's sending creatures from other worlds at us and powering them up. Either we need to stop this threat or find out information on what exactly they are using against us, otherwise who knows what'll happen next." Riku commented on, but Kairi said impatiently "Then like I keep saying, we should go after Solaris first!"

"It'd be the logical idea here, but again…We don't even know where to start. None of us can track him. If only we knew who Solaris was visiting, if we could figure out what that clue meant, then perhaps…" Riku began trying to think about that hint, and Mew and Kairi took a moment to do the same as well. It was Kairi who thought the most about the clue, as she was determined above all else to stop Solaris from harming this planet. But as she dug deep into her memories and recalled events from a couple weeks prior, she remembered something her mom had mentioned, that her earrings were given to her by a pair of old friends…Her earrings that were shaped like the moon and the sun.

Kairi would soon regret realizing this, and as she clasped her hands against the side of her head she began mumbling out "No no no…He wouldn't possibly…" The agony in her voice was heard quickly by Mew, who didn't take too long to realize what Kairi was worried about. With a biting of his lower lip Mew let out a "Tsk…!" and said "Damn it! I should have realized this much sooner…Of course Solaris would be going to Sancturia!"

Riku lifted his head up and remarked "Sancturia?" Kairi exclaimed while swinging her arms out "We don't have time right now! Explain it to him on the way Mew! Everyone's in trouble!" Kairi doesn't waste time in kicking off the ground and taking flight towards the north, and Riku remarked in a surprised tone "Wait…Why's Kairi's mom important in all this?"

Mew glanced at Kairi in the sky and back at Riku, and after a bit of running in place Mew quickly remarked "Well Riku…Kairi's mom was the wife of the original Elemental Overlord. And it seems she used to know Solaris and Lunis as well. I'm sorry, I have to catch up before Kairi falls into a trap." After speaking as fast as he could, Mew thrusts himself off the ground and speeds up to go after Kairi, while Riku just stood there for a moment with a stunned expression and remarked "The Elemental Overlord…Had a wife?" Firming his expression into a curious scowl, Riku quickly took off after his brother and Kairi, realizing that if nothing else, perhaps he'd be able to get some answers out of Kairi's mother…

 _Next Time: The Invasion Force from Two Worlds_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Invading Forces From Another World**

Leaving nothing to chance after piecing together that Solaris had headed off to her home of Sancturia, Kairi flew through the air as fast as she could, passing over miles of burning land until Mew quickly catches up with her. "Damn it Kairi, I know you're worried about your people, but we could just end up running into another trap like that barrier we were just in." Mew remarked while having a concerned look on his face, to which Kairi quickly glares at him and exclaims in a disbelieving tone "I can't just let that bastard get away with this! We need to stop him now!"

"And we will, I promise, but you don't have to die in the process, alright?" Mew said empathetically, with Kairi just turning her head away after a momentary pause and with her face in a melancholy expression she remarks "I'm not going to die…It's my mother that could possibly die if I don't hurry." Mew grinned and remarked "Your mother is one tough cookie, it'd take a lot to stop her."

Kairi looked back and Mew and with a nervous chuckle and hesitant smile she said "Y-Yeah…I know she's tough. But then my people…A lot of them are strong, but they shouldn't be capable of facing a Sun God…" Mew blinked a couple times and with a more serious expression he nodded his head and said "That sounds correct, yeah. I wish I could tell how powerful Solaris and Lunis are, but it seems the fact that they are deities makes it harder to detect their energy. I've kind of heard of this phenomenon before…"

"Huh? You have?" Kairi remarked, and as Mew lifted his body up slightly and rubbed his chin Riku finally caught up with the two of them and said "So are you going to explain to me what's going on here with Kairi's mother?" Mew glanced at his brother for a moment and told him "Hang on a second…Anyways, Solaris and Lunis might have something known as god energy because they exist on a higher plain of existence than mere mortals. It just means I can't properly gauge how strong they are until I actually fight them."

"We'll figure it out soon enough then. Right now, you need to catch me up on what's up with Kairi's mother before we reach the Aurian city." Riku bluntly inquired, and Mew nodded his head a couple time and remarked after a sigh "I wasn't going to forget that Riku. I know you're a bit anxious and all…Anyways, Kairi's mother, Auris, was the Elemental Overlord's wife. She's pretty much ageless, and has been the leader of the Aurians for two-thousand years…Regardless of Gravitus' tyranny. Oh yeah, you don't know about-"

As Mew realized what he forgot to explain, Riku quickly said "Kairi told me about him while you were asleep earlier. Go on." Mew paused for a moment before looking on ahead and stating "Auris was around back in the original Elemental Overlord's time, so it's likely that she knew Solaris and Lunis…And all things considered, Solaris might be trying to get revenge on Auris for betraying the two of them and sealing them away in that cage."

"Is there anything else I need to know about Auris?" Riku inquired, as something was bugging him ever since he heard that Auris is the Elemental Overlord's wife. Mew tapped his chins slightly and said in a nonchalant manner "Well, umm…I guess she also has clairvoyance." Riku widened his eyes upon hearing that and kept a surprised expression for a few seconds afterwards.

Mew then looked to the left and suddenly swung his right arm out while exclaiming "Hold on a second! We're under attack!" Diving down from the left were a squad of five bird-like Vortexians, all of them being as big as the trio with wingspans massive in size, with the edges of the black fog bodies having white and grey coloring to them. These "Vortexian Eagles" had blades protruding from the tips of their "feathers" and went straight for the trio, intercepting their path with a great deal of accuracy.

Mew throws his sword out like a vertical spinning boomerang to try and cut through one of the Vortexian Eagles as they let out a screech, but the bird quickly flips on it's side to avoid the attack. Mew flies higher before a couple of the Vortexian Eagles could slice him with their wings, and the five birds split apart after making their initial dive. "We're getting close to Sancturia, so of course the Vortexians are ambushing us here!" Kairi exclaimed before pulling her staff from her belt and extended it out, flying at one of the Eagles and after blocking a swing of it's wings' blades by creating an aura shield from her left arm she stabs the Eagle through the head with a spike protruding from her staff.

Another Eagle swoops in from behind as the first one shrivels up into nothingness and with a swift swing of it's right wing it slices through the back of Kairi's shirt and scars her. Kairi turns around in retaliation, but accidentally ends up smacking Mew in the back of the head when he comes in from the side to stab the Vortexian Eagle with his sword. Mew flinches for a moment and grits his teeth, but Kairi just blushes and remarks "S-Sorry…I'm not paying enough attention, aren't I?"

Mew quickly remarks while turning around and swinging his sword over Kairi's head to slice the head off another Vortexian Eagle that tried to divebomb them "You can go on ahead and check on Sancturia. Riku and I can handle this small ambush." Suddenly, an echoing growl could be heard coming from the forest down below, and along with a second swarm of Eagles the Vortexians are joined by a new set of foes. These foes are large flying bears with drills attached to the sides of their bodies and an axe grasped in each hand. These "Vortexian Lumbears" had glowing silver swirls where their drills are and a light-brown edge around their bodies.

Mew and Kairi stand back-to-back and look at the army of Vortexians, with Mew remarking again "Seriously, just head off. We'll be fine." Kairi shook her head and exclaimed "And leave you two to fall into a trap? If a larger more powerful Vortexian or another monster from another world comes along, then you'll need my powers to help again them." Mew raised his eyebrows up and remarked "W-Well…That's true, but-"

"No buts about it! We'll save my people together! If you two will have no problem dealing with these Vortexians, then we'll get out of here faster if I stick around!" Kairi bluntly defied Mew's suggestion, even though a part of her wished to go. She then grasped her staff tightly in both hands and swiftly charged at one of the Vortexian Lumbears, using the reinforcement from her aura to counter the axe swings the Vortexian throws her way. She then gets in close to the beast's chest and plunges her staff deep into it's body.

The Vortexian proves more durable than the others, and as Kairi leaps back to avoid the pincer attack from the beast's drills she swings her right arm out and causes the aura from the staff to spike out and impale the beast's innards to tear it apart completely. The beast then crumbles apart and Kairi calls her staff back into her hand quickly enough to swing herself around with her reach extended outward in order to take down a couple of Vortexian Eagles.

Riku has been constantly on the move, using his sword along with rapid movements to deal with the Vortexians. He wasn't letting himself slow down, and that included his thoughts, as they were focused on the nature of Auris' involvement in this whole incident. _"So Auris is clairvoyant…And she seems to have known about Solaris and Lunis. Why didn't any of the tablets mention her? Why didn't she say anything to my brother and Kairi? What is your game here…Auris Aurora?"_ Riku slices through three Vortexian Eagles without breaking for a few second, and then he charges straight forward and impales a Vortexian Lumbear through the head.

As Riku deals with his distrustful thoughts, Mew swings himself around in a circle and slices through a series of Vortexians, thinking as he does so _"I wish I could use my elements to fight against these guys, but thankfully my blade has a pretty good reach to it…"_ After taking down the Vortexians, Mew looks over at Kairi as she takes down the last of this squadron with an angered strike straight down through a Vortexian Lumbear and remarks "Alright, we're done here. Lets keep going to Sancturia."

Kairi didn't hesitate to fly straight back up north again the moment the Vortexians were done for, and Mew let out a brief sigh and say "I get what you're feeling Kairi, but I still have a bad feeling about all this." Mew and Riku quickly fly after Kairi once Mew gestures out to his brother, and after another minute of swift flying the trio finally reaches the floating city of Sancturia…But upon reaching there they see a horrifying sight. The invisible barrier surrounding the city was set ablaze by Solaris' signature flames, and there was a clear hole burned into the side of the barrier.

Kairi laid her hands against the sides of her mouth and let out a horrified gasp upon seeing the city under siege by some Vortexians. There were some Cretaceous and Eagle Vortexians, and crawling along the sides of the barrier are some slippery four-legged creatures with a more streamlined black substance on their bodies and every limb burning with fiery red fog. These Vortexian Flamanders absorb the solar flames on the barrier to increase the intensity of their flames before diving into the hole in the barrier.

But there was something else quite odd about this assault…It wasn't just Vortexians attacking Sancturia. Indeed, being carried up towards the city on platforms made out of solidified Vortexian structures was a purely mechanical army. The soldiers were all made of a red and golden metal, and they were quite varied in size and design. Some carried a rocket launcher as their left shoulder and a laser cannon as their right arm, others were giant mobile fortresses with a massive laser cannon on his back and scythes for arms.

Once the platforms got to the edge of the city, the mechanical army marched right through the barrier to start attacking. "N-No…" Kairi murmured out while fighting back the tears as she shook her head, and Mew and Riku both widened their eyes while looking at the mechanical army, with Mew remarking in a completely shocked tone "What the hell…Solaris isn't just using the Vortexians to attack the city…"

"I'm not wrong here, am I? Those are Mechon that are on those platforms…" Riku commented on in an equally disturbed but more calm tone of voice. Mew was about to respond to that when Kairi suddenly drew her staff and let out an angered scream, her eyes widened with the utmost look of fury on her face before she flung herself straight at one of the platforms the Mechon were being raised on. Mew swung his right hand out and exclaimed "Kairi…!" With a gritting of his teeth Mew drew his sword and quickly went after her while Riku followed close behind, cautiously drawing his sword as well.

Kairi swung her staff down with all of her might while exclaiming "Leave my home alone you mechanical BASTARDS!" But her staff strikes hard only against a magical barrier similar to the one that trapped her and Mew in battle against the Corrosive Hannibal, and her body quickly rebounds back, spinning a couple times until Mew swings his left hand up to catch her on the back. Kairi, seething with rage, quickly raised her left hand up and prepared to slam down on her Angel Drive to try and break through the barrier with it's power.

Mew grabbed her by the wrist, leading to her immediately trying to shake him off while exclaiming "Let me GO! I'll destroy them all!" Mew glared Kairi straight in the eyes as best as he could and said "And reveal our powers to the enemies already?! We can't play our hand so easily Kairi! I don't care how many Mechon or Vortexians they send at us, we can stop them just like this! Forget about the barrier, we'll head into the city and take them out from there. There's no way Solaris could have gotten much harm done to Sancturia in the time it's taken us to get here…Your people should still be safe."

Kairi puts up some resistance for a few seconds more before she realizes she's throwing all of her energy and rage into escaping Mew's grasp of all things. She quiets down for a moment and with a solemn look in her eyes she mumbles out "…You're right…I hate it but you're right…" Mew lets go of Kairi's hand at that point, and the two back off for a moment to look up at the hole in the barrier. As Riku catches up to them, he points at said hole and remarks "That's not supposed to be there, isn't it?"

"Mom…Mom must have seen this coming and prepared the defensive shield around the city. It's supposed to ward off all biological life forms…It would explain why Solaris is resorting to those mechanical monsters to help invade." Kairi said while laying a hand against her throbbing forehead, letting out a groan before Mew swung his right arm out and exclaimed "But at least that hole means we'll be able to enter the city then. Curse Solaris for this attack, but he's allowed us to corner him here!"

Mew quickly sprints at the hole in the barrier, drawing his sword and trying to cut down as many of the Vortexian Flamanders as he can along the way. Mew then leaps straight ahead as far as he can while spinning himself around rapidly horizontally, slicing through the aerial Vortexians without mercy before he was right about the hole. He then notices a squadron of Mechon at the edge of the city and with his body coated in swirling flames Mew grits his teeth and thrusts himself right down into Sancturia, piercing through the back of a M104 Fortress Unit hard enough to melt through it's main body and then slamming into the ground with enough force to send out eruptions of pillaring flame that specifically target the five bipedal M72 units that were surrounding the Fortress Unit.

As Mew pulled his sword from the ground, he saw a few Aurians with various weapons drawn, all of them coated in aura. Instead of reacting with fear, they raised their weapons high and exclaimed in cheer "The Elemental Overlord is here!" Mew only acknowledged the praise with a brief smile before sensing another squadron of Mechon coming in through the barrier, their eyes glimmering red through the edge of the barrier. Mew turns around and exclaims "We all have to do our best here! Go cover another part of the city, I'll handle this part for now!"

The Aurians ran off energetically, their courage renewed now that hope arrived in the form of the young Elemental Overlord. As the Mechons emerged through the barrier, this time with two Fortress Units and a Mass-Produced Face, which are thick legged bipedal Mechons carrying strange staffs in their thick plated arms, amongst their ranks. By this point in time Riku and Kairi managed to make it through the hole in the barrier, with both of them stabbing through the bodies of the Fortress Units to take them down, followed by both of them performing a joint attack on the Mass-Produced Face before it could react to destroy it quickly.

Mew stood upright and waited for the two to run up to him before commenting "The Aurians are fighting back against the army. I just ran into a few of them here." Kairi let out a sigh of relief knowing that, but then she lifted her head up and widened her eyes upon looking past Mew's shoulders. She saw the Vortexians and the Mechon making their way through the city, with the smoke that rose from the destruction they were causing and the flashes of light coming from the Aurians' heavy resistance filling the air. Fires razed the streets and houses, and Kairi shuddered upon seeing a couple bloody corpses on the ground close by.

Kairi's shuddering quickly turned to her gritting her teeth and nearly losing her cool again until Mew glanced at her and remarked "Kairi, you're people need all the help they can get. Rally them not with your anger, but with your strength of will." This instantly made Kairi's anger subside, as she looked Mew straight in the eyes and with a couple blinks she remarked "Y-You of all people said that…That's actually really smart of you to say, Mew."

Mew gestured out with his right hand and remarked with a smile and a bit of playful arrogance "I have my moments, you know that by now. We don't have time for idle chatter though. Kairi, go find your mother. Riku and I will fend off the invading forces until we can make our way to her house." Kairi quickly nodded her head and exclaimed confidently "I'm counting on you to keep as many of my people safe as you can. Got it?!"

In a way, that demand was also Kairi's way of showing that she had faith in the brothers' capabilities. The two nodded their heads, and Kairi then smiled and ran off towards the northern part of the city. Mew only had to glance over her shoulder to see Kairi leaping into the air to take down a couple of Fortress Units with a swift thrust forward of her staff, and with a smile on his face Mew looked at his brother and remarked "I'll cover this part of the city, you go east for now. Try and check the perimeter and make your way close to the center as you go, that way you should eventually find Auris' house."

Riku smiled and then swung his right hand out to summon his sword, remarking as he did so "If I find Solaris, I'll try and send a signal through the ground to contact you." Riku then runs off to the east, and Mew looks at the edge of the barrier as another squadron of Mechon finally arrive to join the battle. There are three Mass-Produced Faces this time around, and as they slowly walked into the city with their staff grasped Mew planted his sword directly into the ground and with hands laid on his handle he suddenly fired up the aura around his body to such an intensity that the heat of the flames made Mew's hair and clothes blow around.

Mew then stared the Mechon right in their cold, red lifeless eyes and remarked "None of you are like the Vortexians…I don't have to hold anything back against you machines. This is my girlfriend's home, so if you want to intrude upon it, you'll be facing ALL of our strength!" Mew made a point of demonstrating his strength by taking the flames around his body and creating two gigantic fiery fists that punch right through the center of the Mass-Produced Faces' bodies. He was about ready to crunch the third one between the two fists when all of a sudden two grey and black blurs leaped into the air and got in front of the flaming fists, swinging their weapons out to blow away the flames.

The two figures then quickly land on the ground on both sides of the Mass-Produced Face, revealing themselves to be Vortexians with strange humanoid-like bodies and silver foggy sledgehammers grasped under their right arms, with the edges of their bodies being dark grey. These "Vortexian Blacksmiths" were acting as bodyguards for the Mass-Produced Face, and Mew pulled his sword from the ground and remarked after grasping the handle tightly "Hmph…You keep surprising me, Vortexians."

The Vortexian Blacksmiths throw their hammers up slightly and then hammer the ground in front of them, sending shockwaves of black fog from their weapon heads at Mew. Mew figured the fog would hurt him greatly and leaped over them, but then the Mass-Produced Face had an open chance to take it's strange lance and thrust it right at Mew. Mew swerved to the right slightly and swung his sword down to send a sharp wind blade through the center of the lance to cut it in half. The two halves fall to the ground, and Mew flies right at the Mass-Produced Face.

One of the Vortexian Blacksmiths leaps up and swings his hammer down at Mew's head, hitting him hard enough to knock him out of the sky and go crashing against the ground. After Mew tears up the ground for a couple seconds, he quickly lifts himself up off the ground while rubbing the top of his head, noticing that with a single swing of it's hammer the second Vortexian Blacksmith has gotten the lance put back together, with the Mass-Produced Face picking it up ready to use again.

Mew rubs the side of his head but after a slight grin he ignores the tougher enemies for a moment and leaps up into the sky, quickly taking down a few of the Aerial Vortexians before landing on the ground and remarking "I'm not going to let any of you get away." As a few of the Vortexian Flamanders began to crawl onto the battlefield, Mew swung his sword around and remarked "And it seems there's a lot of you to stop."

The Flamanders raise their tails and send foggy flamethrowers at Mew. Mew leaps back to avoid the flamethrowers and then swings his sword at the ground, making the tiles ripple forward in a wave and using that to whip the Vortexians off the ground and send them flying off the edge of the city. Mew then throws his sword into the air to impale a couple of aerial Vortexians, and he then swings all of his fingers forward and creates many streams of lightning that pierce through the Mass-Produced Face to the point of making it explode. Mew then calls his sword back down to him, cutting through a couple more Vortexians before he turned around and began to make his way towards Auris' house.

On the eastern edge of town, Riku runs into a squadron of Aurians striking back against a heavy number of Mechon and Vortexians that were gathered there. They were using their drives to attack with differing abilities, such as a couple of them striking violently with aura bear claws and another person using giant aura snakes to constrict the small Mechons. But they were quickly getting overwhelmed, and a stray laser blast from one of the Fortress Units manages to hit an Aurian and knock him to the ground.

Riku leaps away from the edge of the city and attacks the Fortress Unit by using his sword to slice through the machine's scythe arms before it could impale the fallen Aurian. Riku then flips back and lands on the ground in front of the Mechon and thrusts his left hand forward to create a beam of flame quickly, piercing through the Mechon to cease it's ability to function immediately. Riku then performs a backflip to get over the Aurians, where he then throws his blade down mentally and pierces through two Vortexians and a regular sized bipedal Mechon at the same time.

Riku then lands on the ground and glances over his shoulder while calling his sword back to his hand, with one of the Aurians remarking as they check on their damaged comrade "W-Wait a second…You're not that Elemental Overlord kid." Riku remarked quickly "No, I'm his brother. Is there anywhere you can go to get your friend to safety?" "Y-Yeah…! Lady Auris is helping to heal any wounded up at this very moment." The Aurian replied.

"Good, then get him to her and I'll hold back the army on this part of town while you do so. By the way…Where is Auris' house?" Riku inquired as he turned back to face the reinforcements of Mechon and Vortexians that were appearing through the barrier. "Just west of here, not far from the center of town! Thanks for your assistance, brother of Mew!" The Aurian then picks up his friend and makes a desperate run straight for Auris' house, while his other allies decided to leave things to Riku here and defend closer to the center of town.

Amongst the swarm of reinforcements were Mechons with mechanical wings and a couple of shield mounted turret arms. These Offensive/BRAVE units locked on to Riku with their turret arms, but Riku just stood there and remarked "I don't have time for this." He then leaped into the air as the turrets fired rail gun like blasts at the ground where he once stood, leaving blasts of energy in place before Riku took his sword and delivered a heavy flaming slash to cut through both Mechon horizontally.

Riku then lands on the ground and turns around as squadron of aerial Vortexians comes after him, and he remarks "There's only so many of these you can throw at me" before he leaps at the monsters and takes them down with a few swift cuts while leaping through the air in the span of a few seconds. Riku lands on the ground as the Vortexians collapse upon the ground and crumble into nothing, and once again Riku hears an odd crunching metallic sound coming from the black mass. Glancing over his shoulder, Riku commented with an eyebrow raised "Why do they keep making that noise?"

Riku then suddenly hears a loud roar coming from the left and turns to see a gigantic Vortexian running into the city through the portal. It was shaped like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but had long and sharp silver fog swords as their arms instead. The beast towered over Riku with it's murky green-brown edge around it's body and growled a little, and Riku remarked as he swung his sword and stared up at the 'Vortexian BladeRex' with a firm expression "Bringing out the big guns now, huh? At this rate I'll never make it to Auris' house…"

Meanwhile, Kairi was running through the city, watching as her people fought back against all of the Vortexians and Mechon. The damage to the buildings wasn't as bad as around the edge, but there were still fires across the roofs of most of the houses, and some of the recreational facilities were broken apart. There were some Aurian corpses on the ground, most of them either eviscerated or charred, and as Kairi tried to keep her cool while her heart beat heavily, but the dark red skies in the city and the carnage spread across was slowly getting to her.

What broke her though was when she started getting dangerously close to her mother's house, where she saw four Fortress Unit and four Mass-Produced Faces aiming their weapons at her house. Kairi knew she wasn't going to make it in time with her speed as it was, and thus without hesitation she quickly raised her right arm up and proclaimed "GET AWAY FROM MY MOTHER!" before slamming down on the Angel Drive. Wrapped in light for a moment, Kairi emerges out of it in an angelic warrior's garb befitting her gender and glows bright with white aura around her body, a rapier in her right hand.

Kairi then leaps off the ground and flies through the air as a bolt of pure light aura, swiftly taking down all of the Mechon surrounding her mother's house with a pierce of her rapier through their bodies, creating a flash of visible light every time she strikes. Then she lands on top of her mother's house and swings her rapier out to the side, with the Mechon exploding apart a moment later. Kairi drops her Angel Drive before an enemy forces could catch an eye of it, per Mew's advice, and then she looks around as her people turn to see her.

Kairi swings her staff out beside her and exclaims "We're here now to put an end to this attack! Please, fight with everything you got for your families, your friends, your people! We can survive this onslaught! Show these monsters why we're all strong not just in body, but mind and soul! Leave the instigator to us!" Kairi's brave words ignited the fighting spirit in all of the Aurians, and they proudly cheered before turning back on their enemies and fighting with even more vigor than before. Kairi smiled briefly but then widened her eyes and let out a gasp before she leaped off the roof of her house and turned around to quickly enter through the front door.

"Mom!" Kairi proclaimed before she entered, but she was met with the feeling or relief when she looks inside and sees that Auris was there, looking as pristine and beautiful as she always does. Auris turned to her daughter and with widened eyes she remarks "Oh Kairi…You made it back here. I couldn't be more thankful for this if I tried…" As Auris laid a hand on her chest and smiled happily at the news that her daughter was alive, Kairi noticed that there were a couple of damaged Aurians lying on the folded out couches, with some vials of rainbow aura placed on the table close by.

"Mom…You're taking care of the others?" Kairi inquired, and after creaking her eyelids open Auris nodded her head and remarked "I'm helping to heal the injured. I gave out my vials to the appropriate Aurian doctors and they are doing their best to keep the injuries and deaths at a minimum…But there is just so much ground to cover, and…" Auris' tone became melancholy rather quickly, but Kairi just shook her head and remarked "Mom, I know you're worried about our people…I am too, I swear! But that's why you need to tell me where that Solaris person is right now, if we beat him we can stop this attack!"

Auris looked at her daughter and remarked in a very concerned tone "Kairi…I'm glad your heart is in this, but Solaris…He's not someone you can underestimate, even with the Neo Drive in your possession." Auris could see the serious determination on Kairi's face, and with a sigh she said "But that's not going to stop you. Be warned, Solaris is at the Ten Sages' Pyramid…Gabriel went after him to divert his attention away from me, but that was a few minutes ago."

Kairi widened her eyes upon hearing Gabriel's name and remarked "Then that's where I'm going! Be careful mom, I'll take care of Solaris and be back soon!" Kairi wasted little time in rushing out of the house despite her mother's declaration of "Wait!" But it was too late, as she was well on her way to deal with the Sun God. Auris bits her lower lip and sighed, and it was only a moment later that Mew managed to make his way to the house.

He glanced over at Kairi as she ran away, only to turn and remark to Auris while panting slightly "Really wish this visit wasn't so short right now Auris, but where's Kairi going?" Auris blinked slightly with her eyelids hung down and said "You should know all too well…She's going after Solaris at the Ten Sages' Pyramid." Instead of reprimanding Kairi for her decision, Mew just started pulling away from the door and remarked "Well not alone she isn't! We've held off the Mechon and Vortexians as much as we can, we'll leave the defense up to you the rest of the way while we deal with Solaris."

Mew runs out the door right as Riku caught up with him, and Riku quickly said "No sign of Solaris around here." Mew pointed in the direction Kairi went and said "Solaris is that way. Auris just told me Kairi's going after him. We need to catch up with her now." Mew began to sprint in that direction without a second thought, and as Riku followed after him he remarked dryly "Of course she knew…She knew all this was going to happen. Don't you realize that brother?"

"Riku, not now…I know her having clairvoyance is annoying, but you better not press her on that once we're done with Solaris." Mew remarked in a nonchalant tone as the two made their way towards the Ten Sage's Pyramid near the center of town, with Riku looking away from his brother to see the destruction the city was experiencing, whispering to himself a moment later "I can't promise anything, brother…"

 _Next Time: The Obstacle in Our Path_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: One Who Gets In Our Way**

Kairi ran through Sancturia as fast as she could to get to the Ten Sages' Pyramid, panting heavily as her heart raced at the thoughts she had regarding Gabriel confronting Solaris. She looked up to Gabriel as her father figure, and feared the possibility that he could die trying to protect his people. "I don't want this…Please hang in there Gabriel, I'm coming to save you!" Kairi proclaimed right as she neared the entrance to the currently burning pyramid.

Looking around for a moment, Kairi saw that the Aurians were able to start pushing back against the invading Mechon and Vortexians, likely because of the inspiring speech she gave to them. Feeling safe in leaving things up to her people, Kairi pushed onto into the entrance of the Pyramid and was immediately greeted by the lashing of some bright flames in front of her. Kairi stopped quickly and raised a shield of aura in front of her body to protect herself.

When the flames died down slightly, Kairi looked on ahead and saw that the chamber, which once was covered with cooled magma and ice, was now charred to no end thanks to Solaris' flames. Even stranger, the portal leading to Mercury had been dispelled entirely. Kairi suddenly shook in fright as someone laid a hand on her right shoulder, and she leaped forward while turning herself around, pulling her staff out only to find her aiming it right at Mew's face. Mew leans back slightly and remains calm while remarking nonchalantly "I'm glad we caught up with you Kairi…Before you found Solaris, anyways."

Riku was right beside Mew, and Kairi paused for a moment more before putting her staff away and remarking "So mom told you what's going on, didn't she?" Riku quickly remarked bluntly with his arms folded together "I didn't have the honor of seeing her yet, so no…I just caught up with my brother and he gave me the details. Solaris is here in this pyramid, right?" Kairi nodded her head, remarking in a worried tone "S-So is my father figure Gabriel…He's fighting him right now."

"We know…Come on, lets go." Mew said quickly, and the trio didn't waste any time in moving forward through the pyramid. They climb the first staircase and make their way across Venus' chamber, where Mew remarks "Why are the Planetary Aurians' portals gone?" As they make their way up the second staircase. Kairi had no response to that, her mind entirely focused on finding and rescuing Gabriel. Mew didn't bother to ask any further on that, and figured he'd find the answers to that question soon enough.

Upon reaching the third floor, the trio paused and looked on in horror as they saw the once peaceful cherry blossom garden was now slowly being burned to the ground by the flames of Solaris. The branches crackled as they fell off the trees, and bright smoke rose up towards the ceiling. Kairi stepped forward and swung her head around while exclaiming "Gabriel! Gabriel?! Where are you?!" Her voice couldn't reach anyone past the sound of fire in the area, and so she ran forward, weaving through the burning trees to make her way to the other side while Mew and Riku kept up with her.

Kairi kept calling out Gabriel's name until she felt the pyramid tremble, with something being broken down at the very end of the room. Then the trio made it close to that point past the expanse of burning trees and saw why such a commotion was being made. Solaris stood at the bottom of the now broken pagoda with his body hunched forward and his sword burning bright in his right hand. Solaris swung his sword at the pagoda and created a flaming tornado that tore the whole thing apart in a second, but it carried the body of a familiar figure out of the wreckage within the tornado's grasp.

It was Gabriel, who was now wearing his samurai armor that signified him taking on his role as the Planetary Aurian of Earth. But there were a few good sized scars torn through his armor, the edges of the metal burning somewhat bright, and he barely had a grip on his katana. Solaris quickly leaped into the air and grabbed Gabriel around the neck with his pointed gauntlet's fingers, digging into his skin before turning around and throwing the man straight to the ground. Solaris then lands on the ground and kicks Gabriel right in the chin with the bottom of his heel, pushing him back a few feet along the ground.

Solaris then swung his sword around once before raising it above his head, remarking as Gabriel struggled to open his eyelids "You're weak, you damn traitor…! I really don't know why you thought you could stop me…None of you Aurians can give me a good fight! Now perish for facing the might of a High Deity!" Solaris was about to bring his sword down when Kairi suddenly charged Solaris with her Angel Drive activated, stabbing Solaris right in the center of his armor with a glowing rapier thrust as she angrily grit her teeth.

Solaris widened his eyes for a moment before she was sent flying backwards, his body hitting the front of the stairs and breaking through them entirely. Kairi then spun around and landed on the ground, swinging her rapier beside her while Gabriel lifted his head up, and with blood dripping out of the sides of his mouth he remarked after a gasp of air "K-Kairi…You're…Here?" Kairi glanced behind her and with a worried expression she remarked "Gabriel…You're hurt. Please hang on, I'll stop Solaris on my own!"

Kairi turned back and grasped her rapier in both hands as Solaris suddenly released an eruption of flames, blowing away the debris of stone from the staircase that he was buried under. Solaris then leaps forward and lands in the center of the splinters remaining of the pagoda, cracking his neck without any assistance of his arms before remarking in a nonchalant tone "Always have to deal with these annoying interruptions…First that traitor Gabriel, and now it's you three weaklings again."

Solaris then hunched forward and grinned while holding his sword in a backhanded manner behind him. Mew and Riku then ran beside Kairi and drew their swords, pointing them both at Solaris while remarking "Leave him to us for now Kairi. You should get Gabriel to your mother's house so he can get healed up." Kairi widened her eyes and exclaimed "After everything this bastard's done to my people?! I should be the one to fight him!"

"That's true…We'll keep him alive long enough for you to get your hits on him, but there's some questions we have to ask him and we can't have you killing him yet out of anger…Sorry Kairi." Mew said with the utmost honesty in his voice, and after angrily gritting her teeth some more Kairi looked back at Gabriel's broken body as he coughed up a good amount of blood onto the front of his armor. Kairi recognized that she could use her powers to hold back some of the bleeding better than Mew and Riku would be able a moment later, and calmed herself down accordingly.

"Alright…I'll be back as soon as I can! Don't you two die on me now!" Kairi exclaimed, and she dropped her Angel Drive as she turned around and kneeled down to pick Gabriel off the ground. He was light enough thanks to her strength, and it was easy to haul him over her right shoulder. Gabriel tiredly remarked "T-Thank you…All of you…I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop him, even with my full power…" It was that remark that made Mew flinch in shock, as he knew how strong Gabriel was from experience.

Mew kept his cool though and said to the man "Don't worry about it, we'll take it from here. You're people are surviving because you bought them time." This brought a smile to Gabriel's face, as weak as it was, and he just let himself slowly slip into unconsciousness as Kairi began to run back to the other side of the room. Solaris suddenly exclaimed "Where do you think you're going?!" He then swung his sword out behind him and tried to send an arced wave of fire over Riku and Mew's head to fly straight at Kairi and Gabriel.

The brothers leaped back and then straight up, swinging their swords out in unison to strike Solaris' attack and cut right through it with all of their might. The two then landed on the ground as Kairi made it to the staircase, with Solaris just letting out a huff of flames from his mouth before remarking "Fine…! I guess I'll just finish dealing with him later. So I'm guessing if you two weaklings are bothering me like this, you finally found the Phoenix of Destruction, right?"

"Shut up. We're not doing your dirty work, Solaris. We're here to defeat you." Riku remarked bluntly, and Solaris just reared his head up and laughed at that comment before stating "Oh here you are with the jokes again, that's cute. Seriously though? I think I made my demands pretty clear, so either you're retarded or deaf as all hell. Either you have the Phoenix of Destruction's location, or you're throwing your whole planet into the fryer."

Mew and Riku held their swords in front of them without fear, and Mew said "You really should have seen this coming when you launched an attack on the Aurians. Now I want to know something…Why are you bringing in help from other worlds?! First the Corrosive Hannibal and now the Mechon…What's the point in all this?!" Solaris exclaimed to the two "Oh please, like I'm going to tell you weaklings anything. You aren't worthy to be privy of this information!"

Solaris was about to swing his sword out in anger towards the two Overlords for wasting his time, but then he paused midway and remarked "…Then again, you goodie-two shoes are always more motivated when you're given some information. Fine…I don't have nearly enough Vortexians available since Lunis took a lot of them, so I just decided to get a little inventive and call in some help from another world. The Mechon are pretty good fodder to throw at the Aurians all things considered. Just give them a little bit of a boost in strength and viola, a perfect invading force to crush those traitors for good!"

"But the Mechon have no reason to listen to you, regardless of your position!" Mew pointed out, and Solaris bluntly remarked in response "Of course not! You think I'm stupid or something?! That mechanical army wouldn't know right from left if someone wasn't commanding them…Luckily for me, I was able to convince someone else from their world to come and help control the Mechon." With a grin, Solaris suddenly got an idea and remarked "In fact, I think I'll just have him come here and deal with you weaklings for me."

Solaris then stood upright slightly and stepped forward a little before snapping his fingers a couple times in quick succession, smiling as a large vortex opened up behind him. It didn't take long at all for a large mechanical figure to walk out through the portal, the first thing emerging behind the figure's very long and slender golden metallic bladed fingers. The figure walked out of the vortex with two large black and gold metal legs that were bent at the knees and thus extending slightly past the machine's lower body. The figure's claws were attached to a pair of metallic hands and black and gold arms nearly as thick as those seen on the Mass-Produced Faces, though these arms had more machinery put into them for added defenses and maneuverability. The arms connected to the thick and somewhat rounded upper body, which was made of a pure black metal and had a gruesome metal head sticking out from the top of it, which had three gold spikes sticking on both sides of it's silver face plate and dark grey jaw. A pair of long, thin red horns on the sides of this machine's head and a gigantic plasma cannon similar to the ones on the Fortress Units sticking up from it's back along with a couple of quarter-circle protrusions on the back of it's lower body completed it's appearance.

The body of this mechanical figure creaked as it swung it's claws in front of it's body and bent forward slightly to avoid ramming his plasma cannon into the roof of this room, remarking in an intrigued, gravely tone of voice that was filtered mechanically through his creaking mouth "Well, well…Look at what we have here! A couple of little rats scampering around!" Mew grit his teeth slightly while looking up at the mechanical figure before turning to Solaris and exclaiming "You brought Metal Face here?! You are nuts…"

"Hahahaha! You call me nuts? It makes sense to bring someone like Metal Face here! He enjoys this type of carnage, and he's able to command the Mechon! It's killing two birds with one stone you stupid weaklings!" Solaris exclaimed, holding nothing back in his insults while Metal Face leans forward slightly and tilts his head, looking directly at Riku in particular before he suddenly remarked "Wait a second…I remember you! You're that little Elemental Overlord brat!"

Riku suddenly widened his eyes and said "H-Huh? I never met you before! What are you talking about?!" Solaris laughed at the reaction Riku had and then turned back to Metal Face for a moment before remarking "Oh this is great! You two actually have a history with each other…I can't say I was expecting that at all!" Solaris reared his head back and continued to laugh some more at the situation while Metal Face raised his right hand up and spread his claws apart, remarking to Riku "Don't think I haven't forgotten how you took the Monado and cut my arms off you little pest!"

"Stop speaking like we've met before. In all my journeys I never went to the land of the Bionis and Mechonis!" Riku defiantly exclaimed as Mew just stood there looking absolutely puzzled up until the point where Solaris stopped laughing and explained between giggles "You're right, probably. All the assistance I've been pulling in to help so far came from alternate timelines. But enough about that, it's time I leave you two weaklings to perish at Metal Face's hands."

"If you think he can stop us both, then you're mistaken Solaris! We're not Homs…We won't perish instantly from his claws!" Mew exclaimed, referring to the glowing green energy flowing through Metal Face's claws. Solaris slowly lifts his left hand up and remarks with a grin "You think you're so tough now…But lets put the three of you on a more even playing field, shall we?!" Suddenly, another more smaller vortex opens up, and floating down into Solaris' palm is another one of those glowing crimson spheres that Mew saw earlier.

Mew lifts his head up slightly and exclaims "So you're the one who created those spheres! Just what are they?!" Solaris widened his eyes and said "I didn't have anything to do with the creation of these spheres…But I know exactly what they are. You should know this all too well from your encounter with that old traitorous 'friend' of ours. These spheres are a pure concentration of the Anti-Genesis Theorem itself!"

Only Mew understood the implication of that remark, and he widened his eyes appropriately and said with a stutter in his voice "N-No way…! How could you possibly get a hold of something like that?!" "Wouldn't you like to know?! It doesn't matter where I got it from, what matters is how I use it! In it's purest form like what the Vortexians have, the Anti-Genesis Theorem is able to completely override elemental energy…But give it to an actual sentient being, and it will vastly increase their strength and give them some resistances to elemental energy. It doesn't matter if they are made of flesh or metal or whatever the hell else!"

When Solaris has finished his explanation, Metal Face boldly lowered his claws across the front of Solaris' neck and remarked "I didn't take up your offer to waste time on your incessant blabbering, you flaming brat. Give me that power like you promised and I'll eviscerate these little Overlords one by one!" Solaris didn't even flinch as the sharp claws were at his neck, and with a grin he said "Yeah. Go ahead and have as much fun as you want!"

Solaris then throws the Anti-Genesis Theorem sphere right over his shoulder and directly into Metal Face's chest before Riku and Mew could stop it. Metal Face swung his arms out beside himself and clenched his claws close to his hand as the energy pushed itself through his metallic chest and integrated with his body entirely, and as he lurched back he let out a roar that built up in strength until it became one of pure ecstasy. The light from the sphere overtook the green energy flowing through his black metallic body, and he swung the upper part of his body forward while remarking with the utmost joy "This power…It feels incredible! I feel like I have been reborn all over again!"

Some of the gold on Metal Face's body starts turning bright red from the intensity of the Anti-Genesis Theorem flowing through him, and he looks down at Mew and Riku and remarks "You little Overlords…The Monado Boy…That fool Egil…That blowhard Dunban! You're all beneath me now, destined to be sliced to ribbons by the claws of a god!" With Mew's expression worried and Riku's becoming firm and serious, they look up at the powered-up Metal Face while Solaris swung his sword onto the back of his armor and remarked "Hahahah! Have fun now! And maybe if you survive, you'll actually listen to my request this time!"

Solaris turns around and begins to walk out of the room by going to the staircase, but Mew exclaims "You're not getting away!" and is about to pursue him when Metal Face suddenly swings his left claws out in front of Mew's path, forcing him to take up his sword and clash with Metal Face's claws, and he's pushed back along the ground while a rainbow colored field begins to spread out across the area, making certain that there'd be enough room for Metal Face to fight unrestrained. Solaris disappears as the edge of the barrier goes down in front of the brothers, and Mew just swings his sword in front of him and remarks "We'll just have to take this monster down then!"

Metal Face twisted and turned his head around in a ticking manner while swinging his claws around in front of his face, remarking to the two as he does so "You'll be doing nothing like that! You're little rats trapped in my cage, and you'll only escape once I enjoy tearing you limb from limb!" As the rainbow energy of the barrier shone as it wavered about, Metal Face stood himself upright and prepared for a glorious fight, while Mew and Riku stood at each other's sides and prepared to fight, with Mew quietly remarking "If it's anything like the last barrier, we won't be able to use our forms. We'll have to defeat him like this…"

"I'll follow your lead brother. We can win this together!" Riku said, putting all his faith into Mew's battle experience as the two of them set their blades on fire and stared straight at Metal Face's lifeless red eyes. With Metal Face proclaiming "This is going to be a real lot of fun!" the battle had truly begun, and the mechanical monster activated his jets, which roared louder than they ever could before as they shot out bursts of blue flames to propel Metal Face straight at the brothers.

Metal Face gets directly in front of them and swings his claws at them while exclaiming a prolonged "DIEEEE!" His claws etch the air in streaks of red light as he tries to carve up the two brothers, who appropriately leap away from his path while swinging their swords out to clash against Metal Face's claws. Metal Face activates one of his jets to swerve himself to the left and focus his attention on Riku, and after pushing himself backwards with his boosters Metal Face lowers his plasma cannon and charges it up.

The front of the cannon glowed bright blue and white, a plasma sphere shrinking down quickly until Metal Face fired off a burst of energy from the tip of his cannon straight at Riku. Riku only had a second to raise his sword and at least create enough flames around his body to protect himself from most of the damage, but even then the burst of the energy as it impacted his body was enough to send him flying back with smoke flying out of his body. Metal Face then charged forward and began to swing his claws upward while proclaiming "Time to turn you into a shish-kabob!"

Mew was there to defend his brother in the nick of time though, leaping bravely into the air and using the length of his sword to block all of Metal Face's right claws while simultaneously creating a fluffy cloud that would catch Riku before he flew any further away. Mew then remarked "Hope you aren't going to forget me!" and quickly swung his sword forward to push Metal Face's claws as away as the man blurted out a "What?!" in confusion.

Mew then flew right at Metal Face's chest and lifted his knee up right into it while coating it in electricity, sending an array of sparks from the impact point as he pushed Metal Face back a bit, allowing Mew enough room to then swing his leg around and hit Metal Face twice in the chest with powerful flaming kicks, sending the man back a few more feet and cracking the front of his armor slightly. Mew then lands on the ground as Riku pulls himself from the cloud, and with a swing of his right hand forward Riku summons a series of thick vines from the ground and wraps them all tightly around Metal Face's elbows.

"Trying your little tricks again, eh?" Metal Face remarked in a slightly annoyed tone before he suddenly forced his arms to cross and used his claws to slice through the vines easily to free himself, remarking in a blunt and humored tone "Well it won't work on me this time you little rats!" Metal Face then made his claws glow bright red and plunged his right ones down right at Mew. Mew was wise to leap back before the claws could strike, tearing themselves deep through the ground upon impact, and Mew thought to himself as they struck _"Combining the Anti-Genesis Theorem with the ether from Bionis…I don't want to imagine what effect those claws would have on us."_

Metal Face quickly pulled his claws from the ground and boosted backwards to get some distance, swerving himself to the right as Riku fired a beam of concentrated flame from his right hand. Metal Face then lifted the quarter circle attachments on the back of it's body and opened the panels, sending off a large number of rockets from within at his foes. The rockets home in on the brothers' location and descend from the air rapidly, forcing them to either take them head on or run straight towards Metal Face.

"I'll hold them off, attack Metal Face!" Mew exclaimed to Riku quickly, and Riku nodded his head and sprinted forward as fast as he could while swinging his sword beside himself, dragging it against the ground to ignite the flames on the blade steadily while ducking forward to avoid the tips of any falling rockets. Mew meanwhile swung his left hand forward and threw the shredded vines right at the rockets to intercept them in mid-air, creating a series of large explosions of which only a couple come even close to nicking Mew.

In the meantime, Riku is able to close the distance to Metal Face and leap into the air at him, swinging his blade forward to send a large wave of fire at the man's face. The attack strikes but only manages to heat the metal on his face up slightly. "Trying to blind me, eh?" Metal Face remarked before trying to swing his claws at Riku. Riku dives down while swinging his sword around to block every single one of Metal Face's attacks as fast as he could, remarking as he landed on the ground "You may have some resistance to our elements, but you still have to follow certain rules…"

Riku paid very close attention to the way Metal Face swung his claws, waiting for just the right moment for a gap to appear between them before widening his eyes and leaping through that gap, flying upright the moment he's able to and coating his right hand in pure frost after temporarily dispelling his sword. He then grabs the heated part of Metal Face's face with his right hand and uses the pure frost to super cool the heated metal, stiffening it to the point of being able to break the face plate off with a single clenching of his fingers.

"Gah! You little pest…! How dare you?!" Metal Face exclaimed in a voice of pure anger, and Riku quickly backflipped out of the way as Metal Face tried to swing his claws at him, just nearly missing his own face with his claws as he struck out. As Riku floated in mid-air however, Metal Face took his left hand and swung it forward, grabbing Riku before he had a chance to summon his sword again. Metal Face quickly pulled Riku close to his chest and remarked while staring at him through his red eyes "You know…If there's any consolation to you cutting my arms off with the Monado, it's that I was able to get them rebuilt, while you lost the ability to use your right arm forever!"

Metal Face swung his right claws up and pointed them down at Riku's right shoulder as the boy swung his fingers around to conjure up a lightning bolt from the sky to strike Metal Face. This bolt made Metal Face flinch slightly, but he quickly pointed his claws back at Riku's shoulder and remarked "How's about I start by removing your ability to use your right arm again?" The tip of Metal Face's claws dug a bit into Riku's shoulders before Mew finally managed to make his way over to rescue him.

Mew got to Metal Face's lower body and jammed his sword right in, and after grabbing the handle of his sword in both hands while electricity shot out from the scar he created Mew tugged hard enough to pull Metal Face off the ground and after moving him in an arc Mew slammed him down as hard as he could behind him. The jolt of being slammed against the ground made Metal Face let go of Riku, and Riku rolled along the ground for a few after being dislodged from his foe's grasp. Mew then ran over to Riku and helped him to his feet by laying his hands under his shoulders to act as support while Metal Face rested his hands against the ground and pushed himself back up with the help of his jets.

"You alright Riku?" Mew inquired quietly, and Riku raised a hand up to rub the holes in his shoulder while remarking "He got me a bit. He's a lot stronger than before, a good deal faster as well. But it seems we don't have to worry about his claws instantly killing us. The Anti-Genesis Theorem must have overrode the ether in his body, not added into it." Mew blinked a couple times and said while pointing at himself "Oh, you heard my thoughts?"

"You weren't exactly trying to hide them brother…Lets not focus on that right now though." Riku, through the pain, swings his right arm out and summons his sword again quickly, while Metal Face growls a little and then remarks in a flustered tone "Ridiculous…You're not going to stop me! It doesn't matter how many of you there are!" Riku and Mew held their swords up at Metal Face, with Mew proclaiming "We only need the two of us to defeat you! And that will stop the Mechon from attacking the Aurians anymore!"

Riku then stated bluntly "And we aren't called 'pests'! By the time we're done with you, you will know our names!" Riku and Mew then attacked in unison, swinging their swords together to send an X-cross wave of fire right at Metal Face, who merely leaps back and activates his jets to fly back into the air, and after swinging his arms out he leans forward and charges his plasma cannon while remarking "Quit your arrogance! You're too weak to do anything except be incinerated!"

Metal Face fires the plasma cannon down as a concentrated beam of energy, sweeping it's across the width of the ground close to Riku and Mew to try and hit them both while exclaiming "Perish for your insolence!" As the battlefield shook from the impact of the beam crossing the ground, Mew and Riku kicked off the ground and leaped right over the beam, taking flight to go after Metal Face while charging up to full power, their aura flaming around their body as they swung their swords back ready to strike.

Metal Face raised his plasma cannon upward and began lashing his claws around as quickly as he could while Mew and Riku overwhelmed him with their greater speed, streaking through the skies and going around Metal Face's body to quickly cut at his armor with their swords, which only further irritated him as he could only come close to hitting them with his claws. "Why can't I hit you?! I am stronger, faster, better than both of you!" Mew stopped flying directly in front of Metal Face and remarked "No you're not. You're just a predictable brute. You flail your strength around like you're better than everyone, but your technique makes it easy to figure out how to avoid your attacks."

"Shut up!" Metal Face exclaimed before trying to cut Mew with his right claws, but Mew just swung his sword at the claws as hard as he can to hit them back, followed by Mew flying forward and swinging his sword diagonally across the front of Metal Face's body, leaving a searing scar across the metal while pushing him back through the air. Riku then cuts a diagonal scar into the body in the opposite direction, and the brothers flip back onto the ground and throw their hands up at Metal Face while exclaiming "X-Cross Combustion!"

The "X" they made on Metal Face's body blows up spectacularly, ripping apart his body and dealing quite a good deal of damage to his inner machinery despite the resistance the Anti-Genesis Theorem should have given him. "RAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Metal Face exclaimed as his body was blown out of the sky by a series of bright explosions being spread out across his mechanical form. He quickly dropped down and crashed against the ground, a gigantic explosion coming out from the center of his body. Mew and Riku thought they were victorious in their battle, but the barrier had not yet dropped.

Even with the explosions ravaging Metal Face's body, something rips through the chest with laser claws and pulls himself right out, standing up with the flames on his mechanical body bathing his own body in shadow for a little bit until Mew and Riku could adjust their sight to see him. Standing atop the fallen body of Metal Face was a man with an entirely cybernetic body made of blue and gold metal, with his laser claws glowing bright red and the only bit of human flesh remaining being his head, though some of the blue metal was strapped to the bottom of his cheeks. The man was middle-aged and clearly insane, with but a little bit of black hair covering the top of his head.

Hunched forward with his arms limped in front of him, the man, now devoid of the mechanical filter of his Mechon body, remarked in a clear-cut but still gravely tone of voice "It's not over yet…It's not going to end like this!" With the Anti-Genesis Theorem fueling his body, the man sprinted right off Metal Face and went straight for Mew at incredibly high-speeds, using his laser claws along with his speed to zip around Mew's body and attack him with incredibly brutal slashes. Mew's clothes are torn through with some blood being drawn from his skin quickly, but the man only got to go through with his maniacal assault for a few seconds before Mew figured out where he was going to attack from next.

Mew swings his body to the left and with his sword grasped in both hands he slashes down to intercept the man, who stopped running and swung his claws in front of him to block the attack. The man growled while Mew glared him straight in the eyes, remarking quietly "It's over." But it wasn't Mew who dealt the final blow, but rather Riku, who quickly came up beside the man and with a clean swing of his sword cleaved the man's head from his shoulders before he could say anything else. The moment the head came off from the body, the barrier shattered apart and took the two brothers back to the pyramid.

Riku paused after his swing for a moment as the man's head fell to the ground and his body dropped forward without making a single sound. Mew swung his sword out and dispelled it, with Riku doing the same a moment later as he turns around to look at his brother, glancing briefly at the destroyed Metal Face body before he did so. "So that's that…Solaris is likely waiting at the top of the pyramid for us now." Riku remarked. Mew folded his arms together and looked down at the man's body and commented "You know, I wasn't thinking that before…But Solaris said Metal Face was pulled from another timeline, right? Doesn't that mean we've basically changed that timeline by killing him here?"

"Does it really matter? If Metal Face was in this condition, then he was going to die soon anyways. There's likely going to be some questions from the people on his world, but considering how much of a monster this man was I doubt anyone will care for long." Riku pointed out, and Mew just paused in place and looked to be thinking about something. Riku could figure out what it was immediately and remarked "You're worried about Kairi?"

"We were dealing with Metal Face for a while, I thought maybe she'd have gotten back here by now." Mew commented, and Riku said in turn "She might have run into some trouble. But she seems like a strong girl, I wouldn't worry about her at all." Mew chuckled and remarked "Yeah, you're not wrong. Then I guess the two of us will just deal with Solaris on our own."

"Then lets go. He's waiting for the Phoenix of Destruction, but we're not going to give in to his demands." Riku commented, and after the two nodded their heads they turned for the end of the room and ran for the staircase. The flames Solaris left behind in this area slowly consumed the body of the man controlling Metal Face and the Mechon body itself, leaving behind no traces that they were ever brought into this timeline…

 _Next Time: Solar Apocalypse_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: The Berserker of the Sun**

Rushing through the remainder of the Ten Sages' Pyramid, Mew and Riku passed through each floor with incredible ease, not running into a single Vortexian along the way. "Can't believe we aren't running into anymore resistance. Solaris wasn't kidding…He likely didn't have enough Vortexians to spare to try and hold us back. Metal Face was his last line of defense." Mew remarked, and Riku just said in turn "If he can summon people from other worlds and timelines, then it's difficult to say whether or not there can be a 'last line of defense'. I don't even think he's the one responsible for those portals in the first place."

"Well…Yeah. That doesn't fit a Sun God's powerset in the slightest. It probably has something to do with that monster that was freed from that cage." Mew was hesitant to comment on, but Riku just nodded his head and said in a worried and puzzled tone "It would explain a lot…But then you wonder what connection the monster has to Solaris and Lunis, and why even High Deities would follow such a creature."

"We'll just keep those questions for Solaris himself. We'll beat the answers out of him if we have to." Mew remarked before punching his palm with his right fist, with Riku looking at him and remarking in a serious manner "If nothing else, Auris should have some answers for us. I know you hate the idea behind it, but she's clearly been hiding a lot of information from you and Kairi." Mew sighed and said "I told you Riku, it's not that simple."

"It should be pretty simple really…She has the ability to see the future, and yet she let this get this far out of control." Riku commented, and right before the two were about to ascend up the last staircase in the building Mew quickly halted in place and held his right hand up while remarking "Riku, Riku…We really need to get this out of the way before we go after Solaris. You need to understand why Auris hasn't said anything."

Riku turns around at the bottom of the staircase and raised an eyebrow as Mew told him "Her thing is that-" Riku raised his right hand up for a moment and bluntly remark "Save it brother. I get that you want to see the good in others, but look around you. Solaris sent an army to attack this city, that guy named Gabriel almost died. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Aurians have perished in the attack! She could've stopped this, and she didn't. And now we have to do the job for her."

Mew folded his arms together and remarked "Maybe you'll understand more when you speak with her directly after this blows over. Riku, please try not to give her too much grief though, I swear she has a good reason for all of this." Riku just scoffed a bit at that and said "There's no justification for not doing everything you can to save your own people when the option is available. You know that we'd both do everything we could to help our race out if we could, right?"

Mew paused for a moment and awkwardly looked to the side, seeing some legitimacy in what Riku said as he murmured out "W-Well, of course…I hate how we're leaving humanity to fend for themselves right now, it really tears me up on the inside. But that's why I'm not hating Auris for all this…She's dealing with the exact same struggles that we're both going through at this very moment." Riku firmly glared at Mew and told him "Maybe, but we wouldn't be having these struggles if she used her clairvoyance to stop Solaris from even being here in the first place."

"Hmmm…I mean…I can't argue with that really. But you know, if there's one thing that I feel good about even during all this…" Mew lifted his head up and with a bright smile he said "It's that I got to see you again after two years." Riku flinched for a moment, caught off-guard by his brother's happiness. He glanced to the side with a bit of a blush on his face and, after feeling some guilt over the circumstances, remarked "I-I wish I could've come back under better circumstances than this, brother."

"Well it probably would've been pretty awkward to be around me when you knew about my lost memories. I guess I can thank Alex for that much at least. Really, I just wish I could've heard some stories about what you've been up to since you left before all this madness happened." Mew remarked, and Riku smiled a bit and said "Well if nothing else, that gives us something to look forward to when we're done. And you can tell me some stories about your adventures on Earth." Mew chuckled nervously and said "Hahaha, I don't really have much to mention. But that's alright, I'll say what I can anyways."

Riku then walked away from the staircase and patted his brother on his left shoulder, telling him calmly "We're never going to get to that if we keep standing around here. Lets go stop Solaris, and then we'll worry about the aftermath when it comes." Mew nodded his head and the two brothers shook hands on that, with Mew proclaiming "Yeah! He'll be sorry he messed with us pretty soon!" With that off their minds for now, the brothers turned for the staircase and ran straight up it without hesitation as the pyramid began to rumble slightly.

Upon reaching the top of the pyramid, where the Neo Drive was once housed in a metallic chamber, the brothers were quick to find Solaris tearing the place apart with explosions of raw flame and powerful swings of his massive broadsword. He was clearly enjoying the destruction of the statues and the Neo Drive chamber, and as he stood in the middle of the explosions he created he swung his arms out and exclaimed "Take that you puppeteering bastards! We're still alive and you're all dead! That's what you get for messing with us!"

Mew and Riku stood at the end of the room and summoned their swords while firming their expressions, and as the explosions died down and gave way to smoke and smoldering flames on the remains of everything in this room Solaris widened his eyes and letting out a confused mumble for a moment before turning himself and hunching forward, swinging his broadsword behind him before he remarked "So you two stubborn weaklings actually managed to beat that guy. Should've figured, he seemed like too much of an overhyped deadweight in the end. Probably would've been better off forcing someone higher-up in his world to take the Anti-Genesis Theorem."

With a grin Solaris then asked "So are you two finally ready to start listening to me?" Riku glared at the Sun God and remarked "If you want to fight the Phoenix of Destruction so badly, you can have your duel once we've sent you both to hell. This ends now. No more distractions, no more running away." Mew follows suit by swinging his sword in front of him and pointing the dull side of his blade at Solaris, telling him bluntly "You'll pay for endangering this planet and the Aurians!"

Solaris stood upright for a moment and remarked in a puzzled tone "Running? Do I look like some chicken-shit coward? I've just been going about my business this whole time, I haven't been running away from a couple of weaklings like you. You two really just can't seem to take a hint though. You must really not care about your planet at all." Mew thrust his sword forward at Solaris and with an irritated expression he exclaims "We do! I love this planet and everything about it with all my heart, and that's why I'm going to fight you to save it!"

"Oh don't give me that bullshit. Whatever, you don't seem to want to listen, so it's time to fry this planet alive!" Solaris exclaims, and Mew and Riku immediately leaped off the ground and flew straight at him. Solaris widened his eyes before swinging his sword in front of him, summoning forth a mighty flaming tornado that rips through the glass ceiling and carries him straight out of the pyramid, providing also a good enough means of defense to hold the brothers back, with both of them leaping back a good number of feet to avoid getting swept up.

Solaris then swings his sword at the roof of the pyramid and creates a wall of flames to overpower the glass and cover his escape, remarking as he held his sword behind himself "Hahahaha! You idiots can't keep up with me! I'll just have to hope the Phoenix of Destruction shows up later, like father said he would. For now, say goodbye to your planet for daring to not listen to me!" Solaris swings his sword above his head and grins brightly, while Riku and Mew panicked below Solaris' flames.

"What do we do?!" Mew remarked, realizing that the time it would take to get around the flames would be too long. Riku grits his teeth and says "I-I don't know…!" But deep down he was thinking to himself _"S-Should I use the Genesis Form? It should be powerful enough to overwhelm even a Sun God's might, but it could risk the destruction of Sancturia anyways…"_ Riku sweated a little from the stress he put upon himself with these thoughts, but as he began to raise his sword up to consider using his ultimate form a voice suddenly spoke from beyond the flames.

"As tempting as it would be to let you burn this world to cinders, I'm afraid only I have the right to put an end to this bastard race of Aurians, you childish deity." Solaris, Mew and Riku all reacted in natural shock as all of a sudden Alex Whiter appeared behind Solaris with his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face, his eyes hidden behind the shadow of his hair. Solaris stopped what he was doing and turned around, holding his sword behind his back as he hunched forward slightly and remarked "Hahahaha…! So you finally showed up after all! I was beginning to think you were afraid of me, Phoenix of Destruction!"

Alex began laughing and said "You're mistaking me for those two weaklings down there, who keep quivering and hesitating…Me, on the other hand?" Alex lifted his head up to reveal the devilish fiery glow in his irises and remarked with the utmost calm in his voice "I have no fear, I have no hesitation. After all, why should I, who exist above all beings, including even you highest deities, have a need for such things?"

Solaris remarked with a chuckle "Ha…! So you're just as arrogant as father said you were! But I know you have the power to back up your words, and that is exactly what is making my blood boil in ecstasy! You better not disappoint, I haven't had a great fight for over two-thousand years now!" Alex hung his head slightly and then remarked "How pathetic…You came for a fight, but instead you're just going to be part of a slaughter."

Solaris increased the flames around his body and brightened his sword, looking Alex straight in the eyes before exclaiming across Sancturia "If anyone interferes with this battle, everything will be roasted alive!" Solaris then glares at Alex some more and tells him "There, now it's just you and me. I'm sure this is to your liking." Alex remarked a moment later "Hehehe…I suppose it's nice to not have to worry about those goodie two-shoes getting in my way again. They won't let their precious sinful planet die, after all."

Down in the pyramid, Mew and Riku could only stand there and watch as the battle between Solaris and Alex was about to begin, with Mew rubbing the back of his head and remarking "This puts in a bit of a predicament, doesn't it?" Riku glares angrily at Alex and remarks bluntly "Great, at least Solaris isn't going to be burning the planet down, but now we're having to hope Alex actually manages to stop him."

" _Which should be easy enough considering what the Gaia Temporis is capable of…But then again, if it was that simple…"_ Riku stared suspiciously at Alex before continuing to think to himself _"Why didn't he use that power on us when he had the chance? …I wonder…"_ Riku kept his thoughts to himself for now and just chose to be an observer, but not before Mew remarked "You know…Why is Solaris suddenly mentioning a father?"

This snapped Riku out of his train of thought and made him say "Huh? What are you talking about?" Mew folded his arms together and looked up at Solaris, mentioning in a bothered tone "He mentioned being told something by his father twice now…Doesn't that sound a bit weird to you?" Riku looked away from his brother for a moment and remarked "Yeah, you're right…Tsk, just another mystery to add to all this madness. Maybe we'll find out more about this father while this battle commences…"

The brothers thus agreed to stay silent from here on out while Solaris and Alex fought. At the moment though, those two floated in the same spot as they did before, with Solaris in the same pose while Alex raised an eyebrow and remarked "Aren't you going to attack?" Solaris grinned and said "I'm waiting for you to draw your sword and fight. Gekimetsu, the Sun-Rending Crimson Fang, right? I'm wanting to see if it's name actually lives up to the legend!" Alex chuckled a bit at that and remarked "Oh yes, that's the name of my sword…But I have no intention of using it against you. I will beat you with my own body, no weapons required."

Solaris widened his eyes and set his sword ablaze with bright orange flames before exclaiming "Have it your way then!" He then finally charged forward and swung his sword out from behind his back while grasping it in both hands, but in an instant Alex raised his right foot up and pressed it against the jagged edge of Solaris' blade without even flinching as he stopped the swing of the sword entirely, a few waves of flame erupting out from the center of the impact zone a moment later as the air becomes swallowed up in the pressure of the two's power.

Solaris is only able to finish his swing once Alex gives him an arrogant smirk and then pulls back on his foot, flying back ten feet to get out of the way of Solaris' wide-sweeping wave of flames. Solaris held his sword out for a moment and looked a little surprise at how quickly Alex reacted from behind the view of his gauntlet, but then he chuckled a little and swung his sword out beside himself and remarked "Not bad! I'm getting so excited already!"

"Hmmm…" Alex murmured without really a care on his mind, and then Solaris attacked him again by swinging his arms out beside himself and summoning forth five meteors from out of nowhere right above him. These meteors were launched right at Alex, but he just reacted with a forced yawn and then leaped from his spot in the air. With a swift kick from his right foot along with a particularly curved and heavy gale, Alex made one of the meteors collide through the other four, and by the time it was done destroying it's brethren the last was weakened enough to crumble apart immediately.

Solaris then stabbed his sword forward and shot out a thick beam of fire with two thin wisp serpents spiraling around it, attempting to strike Alex right on the left side of his body after his kick was through. Alex just glanced out the side of his eyes at Solaris and flew back in a moment to avoid the beam as it continued to travel forward and melt through the side of the barrier with ease. Alex then flew at Solaris and spun his body around, kicking him twice in the face by bypassing his sword and then zipping backwards before the sun god could retaliate with a swift swing of his blade.

Solaris held his sword out beside his head after his swing and then charged up flames within the blade via a cascading vortex of bright fire, followed by him stabbing the air in front of him and launching out a gigantic plume of fire that Alex counters by leaping up and swinging his right foot forward to send out an equally strong wave of thick flames. Alex then dives down with both of his feet forward to try and kick Solaris in the face again, but the Sun God raises his sword up and blocks with the blunt side of his blade.

Solaris then spins himself around and unleashes a gigantic sweeping circle of fire around himself twice right after Alex kicks off of Solaris' blade and performs a couple flips through the air until he was past the flames. Alex then skids back a little bit and remarks while holding his head up slightly "You're never going to even scratch me at this rate. Come now, surely the great Berserker Knight of the Sun has more power than this?" Alex's taunts were met by Solaris grinning and saying "I haven't even gotten into this fight yet! I'll burn that arrogance down in no time!"

Sarcastically Alex remarks "Oh I soooo look forward to seeing you try" before standing himself upright and pulling both of his hands from his pockets finally, surrounding both of them with electricity before he quickly thrusts them forward and sends out gigantic lightning bolts that target Solaris from both sides. The Sun God swings his sword left and then right in quick succession while floating forward slightly, deflecting the lightning bolts while using their energy to build up friction on his blade and ignite even brighter flames on it.

Solaris then grabs his sword in both hands and swings it behind his head as the flames tower into the behind him, but Alex just curves his hands to cross in front of his face to guide the lightning bolts back through the air until they merged into a large sphere of electricity on the ceiling of the barrier. The sphere fires off a gigantic lightning bolt straight down as Alex swipes his snapping fingers across the front of his face, and Solaris is struck right as he was in the middle of swinging his sword. The lightning bolt consumes him entirely and strikes the flames on the ceiling of the pyramid, making them ripple from the impact while the very sky quakes from the raw power of electricity.

Alex just stands there until he's buried Solaris in the lightning bolt's might for ten seconds, and immediately he dispels the attack. Solaris just stood there with electricity surging around his body for a moment before he was able to break free from it with a burst of flaming aura from his body, allowing him to swing his sword downward the rest of the way and sending a tower wave of fire at Alex. Instead of dodging it, Alex increased the intensity of the fire around his body and swung his arms out in front of him, crossing them together and covering them in diamond.

Alex then swiped both of his arms out through the air to cut into the wave of fire, cutting off part of it from the rest and preventing himself from taking any damage thanks also in part to the protective coating around his arms. Solaris then flew forward before his wave of fire passed Alex by and swung his sword in a broad swipe to the left, with Alex swerving in the opposite direction to dodge the attack, returning to his original position when Solaris tries to swing his sword at him again.

Alex then dodges a few more attacks in rapid succession, even with Solaris bathing the sky in waves of fire to cover more distance. Solaris was clearly a little peeved that Alex wasn't taking a hit so far, and to try and fix that he coated his sword in flames and swung it out as hard as he could to bathe the area in front of him in a lasting wave of fire for ten constant seconds, thinking that Alex would be swept up into the fire as well. But then Alex suddenly warped behind Solaris with one hand in his right pocket and proceeded to lay his other hand on the back of Solaris' armor.

With a light yellow glow coming from his palm, Alex unleashed an explosion upon Solaris' armor meant to break through it, but as Alex jerks his hand back the Sun God only was launch forward with maybe some minimal cracks formed onto his armor. These glowing cracks were sealed back up quickly and Solaris turned around while Alex cracked the knuckles in his right hand and remarked "Figures that an armor crafted from the hottest sun wouldn't be broken from a mere act of combustion…"

As Alex grinned and clenched his fingers tightly into a fist, Solaris was more focused on another matter and remarked "How the hell did you avo-" Alex suddenly shut him up by thrusting his fist forward along with the rest of his body, punching the Sun God right across his right cheek with enough force to send a shockwave through the air, and after grinding his knuckles against Solaris' cheek bones Alex sends him flying off through the air at high speeds, his body tumbling until he slams back first against the barrier, which presses back a little bit and lightens in color to show that it was nearly broken through.

Solaris quickly pulled himself away from the barrier and cracked his neck around without the assistance of one of his hands, but then Alex warped in rather close behind him and whispered into his ear in a rather eerie manner "I'll just have to start hitting harder then." Solaris flinched slightly and turned himself around only for Alex to throw a hard hitting left hook into Solaris' right armpit, which wasn't as armored as the rest of his body, and used seismic force in the punch to target Solaris' bones.

Solaris' arm vibrated as his bones cracked a tiny bit from the punch, but he kept himself stable enough to try and swing his sword upward to cut through Alex, who just warped out of the way again before the blade even got close to him. But as Alex reappeared behind Solaris, the Sun God got wise to Alex's tricks and turned himself around to counter his attempt to punch the back of his head by swinging his sword out. Alex coated his fist in diamond to prevent himself from being harmed, and as the flames spit off from Solaris' sword Alex pushes himself right back with a gust of wind and remarks with his eyes widened slightly "I guess you aren't entirely worthless."

Solaris swings his sword out and lets go of it, having it spinning around rapidly with flames erupting from the sides, turning his weapon into a large burning buzz saw. He guided his sword after Alex, who flies up to avoid the sword only for Solaris to charge at him with both of his gauntlets covered in bright and pure magma. Solaris tries to swipe at Alex with the pointed fingers of his gauntlet, scarring the sky briefly with his violent swings but never once hitting his target due to how quickly he swung his body around to dodge the attacks.

Once Alex saw a gap between both of Solaris' arms, he flipped backwards and used his feet to kick Solaris right in the chin, also simultaneously dodging Solaris' sword as it rose up from below his last position. Solaris recovered from the kicks and swung his right hand up to grab his sword out from the sky, crossing the blunt side of the blade in front of his chest before making it glow bright red, letting go of it again as he made it spin around rapidly, unleashing a towering dragon of pure heat from the blade that thrust itself right at Alex.

"Oh please…" Alex dully remarked before flying straight back through the air, crossing over the pyramid before he grinded to a halt away from the dragon, who straightened itself out and charged at Alex at a much higher speed than before. Alex then widened his eyes and increased the intensity of his flaming aura even further than before, with it enveloping the entirety of his body and looking as bright as the sun in the sky. And just by floating there, Alex's aura is able to swallow up the flaming dragon effortlessly.

But Solaris took the time to leap across the sky and prepare more flames in his sword, swinging it diagonally at Alex with all of his might, carving a glowing scar into the sky so long that it sliced through the pyramid, but once more he failed to hit his target, who warped behind him and struck the back of his armor with a brutal left hook. Cracks once again formed in the armor deeper than before, but Solaris put everything back together and turned out to swing his sword at Alex a few times.

Alex grinned and matched Solaris' attacks with quick forward punches from both of his hands, using enough strength to make sparks fly out from the impacts and avoiding any damage every time he struck. He cracks Solaris' blade in a couple of spots from hitting them multiple times, but then Solaris suddenly backs off, leaving Alex to limply hold his hands in front of his chest while remarking "You're moving rather well considering I cracked the bones in your arm." "I've faced greater pain than this…Your pansy little blows aren't going to break me!" Solaris exclaimed in response.

"Oh child…I haven't even BEGUN to break you." Alex said callously, widening his eyes and flaring his aura up again after a moment of dispelling it, and he then charged right at Solaris and swung his left hand out to grab the man by his right arm before he could swing his sword in retaliation. Alex tugged on the man's arm to take advantage of his weakened shoulder bones send a sharp jolt of paralyzing pain through the nerves in that limb. A loud snap from Solaris' arm could be heard, but the Sun God just grunts slightly in response.

Solaris then tries to grab Alex's head with his left gauntlet while covering it in magma, but Alex just swings his left hand out and grabbed the man by the wrist while coating his arm constantly in the purest form of ice to hold back the heat Solaris was exuding. Then with a twist of the hand, Alex managed to crack some of the bones in Solaris' wrist. Alex then pulled himself closer to Solaris' face and remarked with a grin "You can take a lot of punishment…Good. It's never satisfying to break a god unless they last a while."

Solaris suddenly responded to Alex's words by opening his mouth and unleashing a blast of fire and burning ashes from within, all of which hit Alex on the face and forced him to let go of Solaris' arms and fly back while bringing the back of his right hand to his face to rub it with his spread fingers. Solaris brushes some of the loose ashes from his chin and remarks "I hate having to do that…It's such an immature technique, but it looks like you've been proven wrong Phoenix of Destruction!" Alex, after a brief pause, pulled his hand away from his face and grinned, looking to be entirely unharmed as he explained "What are you even talking about? That felt like a cold breeze, maybe you threw a little dust in my eyes, but otherwise you still haven't hurt me."

Instead of looking frightened by Alex still not being harmed, Solaris instead grabbed his sword in both hands, some clanking being heard from him tightening his grip around his gauntlets as he then laughed a little and remarked "Now this is what I'm talking about! You actually live up to your reputation!" He then lifts his sword above his head and turns it so the blunt side was the most prominent part shown, and the molten cracks expanded outward with glowing heat before a spiral of flames erupt from the blade, with Solaris widening his eyes as pillars of flames erupt out from the sides of the pyramid.

His armor brightened up with a majestic glow, and his hair began glowing bright gold and red at the same time. "Now I can start using a little more of my power against you!" Solaris exclaimed with all of his might, with his voice echoing slightly across the air. The sudden increase in power was felt by Riku and Mew, who were shocked beyond belief at how powerful he was. Though Alex did not share the same feeling, as he only widened his burning eyes and remarked "Hahahah…! I'm impressed, truly I am!"

"Good!" Solaris exclaimed before he swung his sword out beside him, creating a shockwave of raw power that burst out from around his body. But Alex reveals that his earlier comment was nothing more than a mockery of Solaris' efforts as he exclaimed "I'm impressed at how you think this will make even a shred of difference!" Alex then put his hands in his pocket and warped right in front of Solaris while being in the middle of an upward kick, striking him directly in the chin to knock him higher up.

Alex then warps into Solaris' flight path and rapidly thrusts both of his feet straight at Solaris' body, suspending him in place while he rapidly chips away at the shield of fire Solaris summons to protect himself. Alex then warps above Solaris and drops both of his feet down atop his fire shield to send him hurtling towards the roof of the pyramid, and once Solaris bounds off of it his fire shield cracks from the amount of damage he took. Alex warped behind Solaris to try and hit him with a sneak attack, but the Sun God turned around and swung his sword out to counter his attack with a great deal of force.

Alex immediately warped behind Solaris again after the shockwave of flames erupted from the attacks, but Solaris turned around ready to attack him again. Alex warped around him a few times and the two clashed blows for a few seconds, shaking the area with their attacks and cutting through the pyramid with the flames that erupted out from the shockwaves. With how hard they were striking each other, the sounds of their attacks could be heard even at the edge of the city.

After Solaris grew tired of this clash of blows he swung his body around with his sword extended, creating a mile round whirlpool of flames around his body to prevent Alex from attacking him from either side. Alex reappears in the air above the whirlpool and swings his arms out from his pockets, repeatedly throwing his hands forward so quickly that they were blurs in the sky as he sent fireballs down at Solaris. The attacks just served as a distraction as they hit Solaris' body head on and did nothing.

Alex flew down in front of Solaris and bombarded him with a series of rapid hard-hitting punches to the chest, cracking into the armor enough to nearly reach his skin behind it all until Solaris pulls back, his body becoming a streak of pure flames that ignite the air below his feet as he moves. Solaris swings his sword out rapidly to send a multitude of flame waves across the air towards Alex, bathing miles of the sky in front of him and slicing through both the pyramid and the barrier simultaneously.

Solaris then swings his sword behind himself as he sees Alex flying around all the attacks he sent his way, and after causing the area to tremble some more Solaris grits his teeth and swings his sword outward to send a gigantic wave of flame at Alex, who just flipped right over it in mid-air. Solaris then grins and causes the wave of flame to explode right behind Alex, who was actually struck with the attack right as he put his hands in his pocket and warped out of sight. Alex reappeared behind Solaris with smoke coming off the back of his body, and he tried to deliver a swift roundhouse kick to Solaris' face.

Solaris turned around in the opposite direction to swing his sword and counter Alex's kick, noticing the slightly annoyed look on Alex's face and remarking happily "Ha…! Got you at last!" Alex then widened his eyes and said in a blunt and growling tone of voice "And that will BE your last!" Before he suddenly warped behind Solaris and punched him hard across the back twice in rapid succession with mighty electrical punches, choosing not to hold anything back as he sends the electricity through Solaris' nerves to paralyze him slightly after breaking through his armor.

Alex then warped in front of Solaris before he could break out of the paralysis and grabbed him by the face while laughing insanely, and he created an explosion powerful enough to send Solaris crashing down through the side of the pyramid and then through the floor of Sancturia itself. Solaris quickly flies out of the hole his body made while creating an eruption of magma in the process, propelling himself right at Alex at the top of the pyramid without hesitation.

Alex zips to the right to get out of the way of Solaris' charge and then swings both of his hands out to send electric whips at Solaris' neck, wrapping them both around it tightly and with a quick jerking of his hands downward Alex drags Solaris out of the air and slams him against the side of the pyramid, doing this three times in quickly succession before Solaris erupts flames around his body to break the electric whips. He then turned around and wrapped himself in flames, firing himself like a tornado at Alex.

Alex just floats in place and continues to laugh with his widened eyes before he swung his right fist forward with all of his might, caring nothing about taking a little damage from the tip of the tornado as he dug his fist through the flames and punched Solaris right on the top of his head with all of his might, adding in a great deal of seismic force until his blow, which breaks Solaris' concentration on his attack and shakes the entire city down below. At this point it was clear that if he wasn't before, Alex cared nothing about collateral damage in his battle with Solaris.

Alex floats back a little as Solaris lifts himself upright and his body trembles against it's will, and his head throbs slightly in pain, leading to him grabbing the front of his head while hunched over. After Solaris has laid his fingers across his face for a few seconds he remarks with a pissed off scowl "Y-You dirty little shit…! Trying to kill me by pureeing my brain?!" Alex leaned his head back as he laid his hands in his pockets, remarking with a bit of a grin on his face "If I wanted you dead it'd be easy to do that. Unfortunately for me, I'm forced to keep you alive."

Solaris lifts his head up slightly and remarks with a puzzled expression on his face "W-What are you talking about?" Alex grinned and after a slight chuckle he tilted his head slightly to the right and remarked "Oh please, even a hot-head like you isn't STUPID enough to not know what I want from you. Fine, you want me to spell it out?" Alex leans forward a couple inches and remarks with a look of pure anticipation on his face "I worked hard to break the original Elemental Overlord's stupid seals. Now…You're going to be a good little boy and reward my efforts by taking me to your father, Justek Arcavira, aren't you?"

 _Next Time: Auris' Judgment_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: An Exchange of Threats**

"You're out of your mind…You think I'm going to just take you right to my father?" Solaris remarked in a dumbfounded tone towards Alex's remarks, and Alex just reared his head back slightly and said with a grin on his face "I think it's within my rights…I did everything I could to free him. You wouldn't even be here having this conversation if it wasn't for me, so perhaps you should shut up and stop being a little ingrate already, hmmm?" Solaris was actually left with his mouth agape at how high and mighty Alex was behaving, especially in front of a High Deity such as himself.

"At a loss for words? A shame…Perhaps I have to force them out of you, and maybe once you lose something important to you you'll be more inclined to listen to my request." Alex leaned forward as he said that nice and slowly, and then he raised a pointer finger up and began pointing it at different parts of Solaris' body, remarking as he did so "Perhaps that arm you use to grasp your sword would be a good start…? Then I can pull your ears off and cauterize the bleeding so you can continue to suffer as I rip that smart mouth tongue right out."

Solaris tensed up slightly as he could tell that Alex wasn't making idle threats. Solaris shook as he sensed that the purely serious and callous behavior Alex was displaying was the type of person he truly was, and it was only with the grin across Alex's face spreading ever wider that Solaris remarked with a stutter in his voice "T-This is bullshit…! I didn't think you'd be this much of a monster. I just wanted to fight you because I heard you were incredibly strong from father, but you're telling me there's a risk of me dying in the process?!"

"Well not unless you take me to your father…In which case then I'll at least give you a chance to get a running start away from me." Alex says while standing himself back upright and placing his hands back into his pockets, followed by him remarking "I think I made it quite clear I enjoy breaking people like you. Do you want to test me, child?"

Down in the pyramid, Riku remarked as he listened and watched behind the ceiling of Solaris' flames "See brother? This is what Alex Whiter is truly like…You think there's any good in him when he's acting like this?" Mew was concentrating more on what was being discussed than Alex's behavior, though that didn't stop him from pausing from what Riku was saying to him. Riku turned his head to stare at him and remarked "Brother…? I hope you aren't ignoring me on purpose here…"

"S-Sorry Riku…But you are listening to this, right? Solaris, and by extension Lunis have a father…And his name is Justek Arcavira? I just don't get it…I thought the third being sealed in the cage was a monster, that's what you said, right?" Mew remarked, looking back and forth at his brother and the sky beyond the flames as he did so a couple of times. Riku then widened his eyes and remarked while laying a hand against his chin "W-Well yes…That's what I thought too. Solaris and Lunis do have human-like appearances, and I don't think they are doing that as a guise. Maybe their father also works for the monster…"

"Now I think THIS is something to ask Auris about. She'd know who this 'Justek' person is." Mew remarked, conceding that much to his brother at the very least, and after Riku nods his head he remarks "No doubt about it, we'll get some answers out of her regarding Justek and his connection to Solaris and Lunis." The brothers then look back up at Solaris and Alex, and Solaris was floating there in place with his hands shaking as they continued to grasp the length of his blade's handle.

Solaris grit his teeth and remarked "Then I guess I have no choice…" Raising his sword above his head just like before, Solaris widened his eyes and exclaimed "I guess I will have to use all of my power and kill you before you can kill me!" Before Solaris could even get a chance to go all-out, a familiar voice suddenly yells out across all of Sancturia _"Enough, brother! You're forgetting that your time limit is up!"_

Solaris paused and glanced up and to the right, remarking in a puzzled tone "What? You can't be serious! And what am I supposed to do now? You CAN see I'm being confronted by the Phoenix of Destruction, right?" _"Don't worry about him, you've given father enough time to prepare everything necessary for you to survive. Return now and let me handle the next part."_ The voice remarked, and at this point Mew said "Is that Lu-" only for Riku to quiet him quickly so they could hear the conversation clearly.

Solaris quickly placed his sword on his back and calmed down his power, remarking in with a relieved grin on his face "Well, that's good to hear. I guess I'll pass things off to you now, Lunis." Solaris then looked at Alex and remarked "Too bad…! I'm not going to waste my time dying to you…! I got better things to do now!" Alex raised his eyebrows and remarked "Oh really now? And just what makes you certain you'll escape?"

As Alex raised his right hand up and spread his fingers while creating a claw of fire on it, and Solaris just turned around and remarked "Because father says I will! He's never wrong!" Solaris then created a burst of flames under his feet to rocket himself forward, creating a flaming aura around his body to melt through the barrier and make his way out towards the atmosphere of the planet. Alex grins before choosing to fly after him with an equal amount of speed, and as Solaris begins to leave the planet his flames begin to fade away from the roof of the pyramid and across Sancturia as well.

Riku wasted no time in exclaiming "After them!" before he kicked off the ground and burst forward past the pyramid towards the hole in the barrier Solaris made. But as he passed outside of Sancturia, he looked up and watched as a layer of pure, thick ice was enveloping the atmosphere of the planet at a very rapid pace. The ice allowed just enough sunlight to seep through, but Riku's way out was slowly sealing up. Solaris and Alex managed to get out in time, but Riku was suddenly stopped when Lunis exclaimed _"Don't make another move, Elemental Overlord!"_

Riku suddenly paused in place upon being called out from afar, but by that time the atmosphere of the planet had finished being sealed up with ice. Riku clenched his fists and remarked as he floated a fair distance away from Sancturia "Lunis, is it? Just what type of game are you playing at here?" _"This is no game. This is just a part of the plan. If you continue to fly towards the atmosphere, I will end your planet right now."_ Lunis remarked bluntly.

"And what's stopping me from melting the ice away?" Riku remarked, and Lunis told him clearly afterwards _"Do you really want to test me? You've seen what my brother could do. I will make this clear…You will follow my conditions here if you want to save your planet. I will give you thirty minutes to rest…And then you will have two hours to run to the other side of the planet and find the passage from here to the moon where I am at. If you fly at all, if you try to use your elements to escape the planet, then you will fail, and your planet will be destroyed."_

Riku raised his eyebrows at that remark and said "Then I suppose our goal is to defeat or kill you, is that right? And what about Solaris and the Phoenix of Destruction?" _"Of course you have to defeat me…I'm not treating this like a sport like my brother has been. I have every intention of fighting you with everything I've got. But first you have to survive and make it to me…"_ Lunis then didn't say anymore, refusing to acknowledge Riku's inquiry about Solaris and Alex Whiter.

As much as he hated it, Riku knew it'd be selfish to ruin the planet over going after Alex…It'd make him no better than the Phoenix of Destruction. Riku turned around and decided to fly back to Sancturia to make sure everything was ok there, and then use the break-time Lunis was giving to question Auris on all the secrets she had to be hiding from them. The good news is that with Solaris gone, the flames had stopped being spread across various parts of the planet, though the damage was still there and would have to be fixed later…That's not even getting into the memories of the humans, who saw the flames and the Vortexians firsthand.

As far as the Aurians went though, the causalities numbered in the high thousands, which included children as well. The Vortexians were gone, and the Mechon had been thrown into a series of vortexes not long after Metal Face's demise, according to Gabriel. Auris quickly worked to seal the barrier back up and cloak the city from the humans, even though Lunis' ice attack on the planet would prevent any satellites from noticing the city now. After taking a quick look at the city and the distress the Aurians were in the middle of experiencing, Riku and Mew made their way back to Auris' house, where Kairi was there waiting for them.

Kairi immediately let out a gasp of relief and got off the couch, running up to Mew and giving him a quick hug, remarking in a quick and exasperated tone "Oh thank god you're alive…When I saw Alex fighting Solaris instead of you two, I thought one of them had gotten you killed." Kairi pulls away from Mew, who smiled at her and remarks while gesturing his right hand out "No, Solaris just kept us trapped in the pyramid while he fought Alex. Was everything ok on your end though?"

"Umm…Well, there was…" Kairi was about to say something, but then shook her head and remarked with a relieved smile "It's fine actually. We made it through ok…For the most part." Kairi turned her head away and let out a melancholy sigh over the loss of a lot of her people, and it was easy to see she was staying strong by holding back the tears, as a little droplet began to form in the corner of her left eye. Mew didn't say anything more after that, and instead inquired "What is Gabriel up to? I saw him heading for the pyramid when we were on our way back."

"He's checking up on the other Planetary Aurians." Said Auris, who was walking down the nearby staircase not long after hearing the return of the two brothers. Riku looked at her directly and narrowed his eyelids, paying close attention to her mannerisms and such as she descended down the staircase. Auris was looking back at him subtly every now and then, but primarily focused on answering his brother's earlier question with "He's worried that something happened to them, considering the sudden disappearance of the portals."

"Yeah, that's to be expected. Maybe the Vortexians were sent to their planets…" Mew theorized, and Riku watched as Auris reached the bottom of the stairs and wriggled her right fingers slightly, appearing a bit tense as her heart beat slowly against her chest and she tried her hardest not to give Riku even the slightest bit of attention now. As Kairi remarked "What would be the point of that? The Vortexians don't seem to work well against us Aurians, even in numbers. It was the Mechon that were doing a lot more to us…" Riku watched as Auris began to slowly move to the back of the living room.

" _She knows…"_ Riku thought to himself as he slanted his eyebrows into a deeper glare, and then he focused more on Mew and Kairi's conversation, where his brother closed his eyelids and remarked "All things considered, it wouldn't have been impossible for them to attack the others with Mechon as well. Though considering Solaris had to deal with Gabriel himself, I doubt the Mechon could have done much anyways. I'm worried about the Planetary Aurians as well, but we can't leave the planet except to go deal with that Lunis person next."

Mew then looked at Riku, who quickly put on a more relaxed expression for the time being, and asked him "So Lunis said no flight except once we get to that tunnel, right? At least we got a pretty good running speed to rely on here, so we shouldn't lose too much time…Except…" Mew glanced to the right at Auris, who was purposely pretending to rearrange some items on the nearby shelves at the moment while carrying a heavy expression on her face. As much as he didn't want to, Mew remarked "We kind of have some questions to ask you, Auris."

Auris paused, her hands resting against the edge of one of the shelves as she stood in place and could tell that Kairi was staring at her with a concerned look in her eyes. "Mom…Mew has a point. I mean, Solaris clearly came here to attack you, and the earrings you wear were given to you by him and Lunis, weren't they?" Mew then gestured out at Auris and remarked "Plus, Solaris mentioned having a father…A man Alex called 'Justek Arcavira'. Surely that name rings a bell to you, right?"

Auris was silent at first, and Riku was about ready to push the answer out of her with a comment until she quickly hung her head down slightly and remarked while gripping the edge of her shelf tightly "…Justek Arcavira…That's a name I haven't heard or said for quite some time. And I hoped that would be a part of the past that would've been long buried away." Riku glared at Auris again for daring to make such a comment, but he tried to keep himself restrained as Auris let go of the shelves and turned herself around, folding her arms into her sleeves as she quietly takes a couple steps forward towards the trio.

Auris closed her eyelids halfway and hung her head down, her beauty lost to the melancholic look on her face as she remarked to the three "Now that it has come to this, it's only right that I tell you what I can. Yes, Solaris and Lunis were once close friends of mine…Yes, I know who Justek Arcavira is…How can I ever forget the man who took his own two children and his Vortexian army and waged war against us all." Mew raised his right hand up with a puzzled expression and remarked "W-Wait a second…This Justek guy waged war against you all? The Dark King wasn't the first to do that?"

Auris shook her head and remarked "No…Justek was the first. He rebelled against the nine elemental tribes and the Aurians, turning against all both friend and foe alike." Riku interrupted Auris and asked firmly "Before you continue…There's one thing I want to know. Just what exactly are the Vortexians? They aren't made of flesh, but they have to be made of some sort of solid material considering how our weapons affect them."

"Vortexians are a personal invention of Justek's. They combine machinery with samples of the Anti-Genesis Theorem extract directly from Justek's own blood. One drop of his blood is all it takes to activate a Vortexian, but the machinery just acts a projector for the pure essence of the Anti-Genesis Theorem, which allowed Justek to create all manners of creatures that were capable of preventing the elemental tribes from fighting back as well as they could." When Auris' explanation is at an end, Mew nods his head and remarks calmly "So Justek was the third guy you said got the Anti-Genesis Theorem inside of him."

"…Yes, yes he is. " Auris remarked, and Mew then went on to ask "But I don't get it. Why would Justek attack all of you? Surely if Solaris and Lunis were your friends, Justek was one as well at some point." Auris sighed and said as she turned herself around "You…You aren't wrong there Mew. Justek was a friend…Not just to me, but to my husband and the Dark King. To this day, I still don't know why he chose to rebel against us all, and my husband refused to tell me what Justek said to him."

"So you think Justek has come back to finish what he started?" Mew inquired, and Auris shook her head and mentioned "Why would that be his goal? The original Elemental Overlord and Dark King are gone…The tribes have fallen, the Aurians are without the Ten Sages…I don't know what he could possibly want without knowing what his original plans were." Riku folded his arms together and bluntly inquired "Even with your clairvoyance?"

"…How would that allow me to read his mind? You think too much of my ability, Riku." Auris remarked quietly and bluntly, and Riku just glared at her even more than before because of that. Auris lifts her head up slightly and remarks "Justek…Is something that should've stayed buried in the annals of history. Forgotten, never to be seen again…Just like us Aurians. But it seems fate is always destined to be cruel to us for the decisions we make."

From the way Auris spoke, Riku thought that she was trying to garner sympathy from the three of them, and as he slightly grit his teeth Riku thought to himself _"Are you kidding me? You can't be seriously trying to pull this on us…!"_ Kairi was then the one to speak to her mother, and though it was hard she kept her head held high and said without the slightest bit of awkwardness "Mom, if Justek was meant to be kept a secret…Then why has he been freed now?"

"…Because despite my objections, my husband created a tablet depicting the battle he had with Justek, putting on it text warning those who would read it to not try and repeat the mistakes he had made by letting him roam free. Riku stepped forward slightly and remarked "Only me, my brother and Alex could possibly read that text. What the hell are you even talking about?" His patience was broken slightly by Auris' attempts to play ignorant, but as though she was manipulating his responses on purpose the woman quickly turned her head over left shoulder and remarked "Anyone from the elemental tribes could read that tablet. The seals were made in such a way that it would be impossible for any trouble-making stragglers to break open the cage."

"And yet it's because of those specific conditions that Alex Whiter was able to free him in the present day. And you can't tell me that you didn't see that coming, Auris." Riku quickly remarked, and Auris turned herself back around and met Riku's glare with a rather strong but calm one of her own before telling him "We had hopes that it would not come to that. My husband likely did everything he could to keep Alex from straying off his path."

"…Clearly not enough, otherwise we wouldn't be here." Riku dryly commented, and there was a brief pause in the conversation where Auris closed her eyelids and Mew and Kairi both looked at Riku with some concern towards the tone he was taking. After the pause came to an end, Mew remarked "Riku, lets get back on track here. We need to find out more about Justek while we have the chance."

"Fine, go ahead and keep trying to pry the secrets out of Auris' lying mind." Riku bluntly remarked before pulling his arms away from his chest and continuing to glare bitterly at Auris, who creaked her eyelids open as Mew inquired "Auris, I just want to know something…How did Gravitus know about the cage? He clearly intended to use the energy of Solaris and Lunis that was released once Kairi and I defeated the nine Planetary Aurians."

Auris replied with a puzzled shake of her head "I-I don't know…Gravitus somehow figured that out all on his own. He never pried any information from me, and I know for a fact he never determined the location of the Genesis Temple." For once Auris showed doubts in her own knowledge, which Riku took as rather odd considering her knowledge of the future that clairvoyance should have granted her. "That's…interesting…But considering Gravitus is dead, we can't exactly get the answers from him." Mew remarked.

Mew then lifted his head up and remarked "Fine then, last question from me. Why did the original Elemental Overlord seal Justek away instead of killing him?" Auris closed her eyelids and bit her lower lip for a moment before letting out a sigh and remarking "I-I don't think it'd be right to tell you that. My husband had his own reasons for doing that, and I choose to respect that." Mew nodded and remarked "Fair enough Auris. Alright, I think that's good enough. We should probably go and-"

Mew began to turn around and went for the door when Riku took a couple steps forward and remarked "We're not done here. You still have plenty of information to give us Auris." Mew grimaced and as he slowly turned back around thought to himself _"Riku…Come on now…"_ Auris raised his eyebrows and nevertheless remarked in the face of Riku's bold remark "Tell me, Phoenix of Balance…What do have to say?"

Riku didn't have just one thing to say, and he quickly began bombarding Auris with as many questions as he could without any hesitation or mercy. "What is Justek capable of? Why is Justek the father of a Sun and Moon Deity? What's up with the vortexes that keep bringing monsters from other timelines here? Why did you allow Alex Whiter to become the Elemental Overlord knowing full well he'd become the Phoenix of Destruction? Why did you allow something incredibly powerful like the Gaia Temporis to exist knowing full well what destruction it could cause?!" Riku's question got more and more pronounced and angered as he went on.

Mew could feel the raw anger coming from Riku's body and the aggression building up inside of him, and he knew where this whole matter was heading. "Riku…" But Mew's remark is unheard as Riku exclaims bluntly "And why did you lie to your own damn flesh and blood knowing full well that someone was going to come and cause your own damn people to be murdered?! The rest of the Aurians were innocent bystanders in all this, and so are the people of Earth, and how many of them died because you couldn't open your damn mouth?!" At that point Mew and Kairi widened their eyes at Riku's sudden but ultimately rational outburst, realizing that it was hard not to take his side even as he tried to force Auris to answer his questions.

And in the end, Auris just looked Riku straight in the eyes without flinching in the slightest and remarked "When you choose to become the Elemental Overlord, there's no such thing as bystanders anymore. All of the universe becomes the battlefield, and death is going to happen no matter what. In the end, you can lower the amount of deaths, that's the best case scenario. There is always going to be acceptable losses. You think this isn't the first time I've seen my people die because of the Elemental Overlord's existence? Sacrifices have to be made to make sure the best possible outcome occurs sometimes, and that's just something you'll have to accept…"

Riku clenches his fists tightly and grits his teeth over the span of a few seconds, and as Mew could sense the aggression in his brother's body reach a threshold and his glance aimed at the table standing between him and Auris he raised his right hand onto Riku's shoulder and remarked in a completely blunt tone "Riku, stop." Riku ignored his brother entirely and whispered out the words "You damn bitch…" And by then it was too late.

Riku used his powers to throw the table in front of him aside as he brushed his brother's grasp off his shoulder and charged forward at lightning speed, his eyes widened furiously as he swung his right hand out and grabbed Auris around her neck, continuing to move forward in a second before slamming her body right against the nearby wall with just enough force to keep it intact but sending a shock through the entire house. Kairi immediately widened her eyes and exclaimed in shock "Riku, what are you doing?! Let go of my mom!"

Riku stood upright slightly and glanced over his right shoulder while continuing to hold Auris against the wall, remarking in an unamused and blunt tone "Why do you want to defend her now?! I don't care if she's your mother…She damned her own people to death by not saying anything!" Riku turned his head to glare Auris right in her unflinching eyes, telling her as bluntly as he could "As far as I'm concerned…You're just as guilty as Solaris and Alex Whiter for all the deaths that have happened here today."

Mew swung his right hand out and summoned his sword, remarking bluntly to Riku as he did so "If you don't let go of her right now Riku, we're going to fight. Is that really what you want right now?" Riku positions his body so he's directly in front of Auris while continuing to hold her against the wall, remarking as he did so "This isn't going to end like that…If you try anything brother, this witch will be harmed as well. And you seriously think she doesn't deserve this after all she's done?!"

"I told you to let this go Riku, that she has a reason for all this!" Mew exclaimed to desperately try and reach out to his brother, but Riku just responded bluntly with "There's no justification whatsoever for hiding the truth like this! If she had given just one warning that this was going to happen, Alex could've been thwarted, Justek would never have been freed, and countless people would still be alive! And look at her…She doesn't feel guilty at all."

Riku stared right into the calm look in Auris' eyes with all of his anger, and as Riku held his fingers around her neck she did nothing to resist physically, instead fighting back against the boy with her words as she starts to say to him "I don't feel guilty? …What gives you the right to judge me on that when this is our first meeting?" Riku tightens his grip slightly, but though Auris nudged a bit in response she continued to speak out in a slightly raspier voice by saying "You think clairvoyance is a be-all end-all power? Sure…you can see all the best possibilities…But to balance it out, you must also see all the worst possibilities unfold…"

Riku glared Auris still as she cracked a tiny smile and said "You think…You can understand what I've gone through…? You think…You can judge me when you know nothing? I've spent two-thousand years…Forced to watch multiple times across multiple timelines as my people are killed from differing events…And then some of those events before my eyes. I've seen more people die through my eyes than there are in the entire universe, and many times they are my own children, my own father again, and even my husband…"

Auris raised her eyebrows a bit, becoming a little less reserved as she grit her teeth slightly and coldly told Riku "So I've seen everything up until this point, and the visions keep coming…And the only way I can ever escape is through death. But I'm not a coward…I'm going to keep carrying the burden of these visions, and do whatever I can to make the best possible outcomes occur. In the end, that means having to suffer the consequences, including the death of my people…So yes, I do feel guilty for not mentioning anything about the timelines I see, but I stay strong no matter what…So those around me can try to stay strong as well…"

Riku listened to all of that closely, but then tightened his grip even further, creases forming across Auris' neck while Kairi was left distraught watching as she knew not what to do to stop this without harming her mother. "Riku…Don't…Please…" She whispered while tiny tears trickled down her cheeks, her head shaking in disbelief that Mew's brother could be like this. Auris just smiled at Riku and told him "…You plan to still punish me anyways? …Then you're not very good at this…"

Auris then lifts her right hand up slowly, pointing at her waist with the tip of her fingernail before remarking "Gravitus ravaged my body in his quest for power…I endured his mental and physical torture for two-thousand years…" Auris then raised her hand to her chest and said "And yes, at one point I tried to stab myself to death to free myself from the pain of it all…Right before my young husband's eyes, in fact…" She then went to her neck and remarked "Suffocation, drowning, drinking…None of that killed me either, and you know why?"

Auris lowered her hand and remarked "Because that 'Eternal Beauty' the Anti-Genesis Theorem gave me is the most damned curse God could have conceived for me. That Theorem will always fix every scar, every deformity…Even death itself will be reversed so long as one major organ survives to rebuild everything from. The only way you could 'punish' me after all I've been through…Is to burn me down to the last atom. But then you lose your one line of protection…And I know my daughter will avenge me afterwards."

Auris went from cold to sly in a matter of seconds, and she grinned from cheek to cheek as Riku widened his eyes at what she was saying. Riku lowered his head and clenched his teeth together, shaking slightly as he remarked "Damn you…Just…Damn you…!" He then lifted his head up and exclaimed with all of his rage "Then tell us! Tell us what would be so much worse than stopping all this madness from happening! At least give us that much!" Riku's voice sounded broken up, as though he was beginning to act out of desperation.

Auris, after all that Riku had said and done, at least decided to listen to this one request as he loosened his grip around her neck. "…You want to know so badly? …Then I will tell you…" Auris closed her eyelids and recalls the events of another timeline, remarking as she did so "If I told Mew and Kairi of Alex Whiter's return, then Alex would know that I had a part in alerting them. He would instead go from attacking Mew to destroying Sancturia, then quickly annihilating the Earth before Mew could stop him. He would give up on his plan to free Justek and use the Gaia Temporis in combination with his own strength to quickly annihilate multiple worlds in a pure rage, and eventually he will kill you as well. Then he will be stopped…But not before he destroys 95% of the entire universe."

Riku widened his eyes in shock a bit, letting out a stuttered murmur before Auris opened her eyelids and remarked "Unfortunately, that's something else you have to consider…Every timeline I see is bound to happen. Perhaps not from our point of view…But another version of ourselves has already experienced the events. That's just how the 'higher-ups' work…They make every timeline happen so they can pick out the truly worrisome ones and remove them from existence. Anyways…That's why this is the best possible outcome. As horrible as it was for thousands to die today…Alex Whiter would kill countless people if we did anything to prevent his plans from coming to fruition. Now that Justek is freed and Alex Whiter is distracted with him, you three have a chance to stop any further madness."

Riku's hand began trembling as Auris continued to speak, a smile present on her face even after everything that Riku had just said and done to her. And he couldn't understand why that was until Auris whispered to him "You've grown into a strong Elemental Overlord in your own right Riku…And I understand what you've been through." It was then that Riku just froze in place and lowered his head with his mouth agape and his body trembling.

He didn't even consider it until now…If Auris had clairvoyance, then she's seen everything he's done. She knows exactly the kind of struggles he went through, the choices he made, and the battles he fought…Riku then remembers that he went through many worlds with the knowledge of those places fully available the entire time, and how his lack of sharing information led to many problems. Realizing that, Riku understood that he was being a hypocrite for attacking Auris for the same thing he had done.

"… _Was I…Was really about to cross that line?"_ Riku thought to himself, horrified that he was seconds away from taking Auris' life right before the eyes of her daughter and his brother. He glanced back for a moment and trembled some more as he saw the cautious look on his brother's face, and the deep, welling concern on Kairi's own. _"God…What am I doing?"_ Riku thought, his heart skipping a couple beats before he turned to look back at Auris, and as he finally let go of her neck he drops to his knees immediately and lays his hands against the ground while continuing to tremble.

As Auris steps aside, Riku remarks "I-I've been so used to knowing what's going on for the most part…T-That it frightens me to not know anything right now. Everything is on the line…Everything we've worked hard to protect is at stake…And a-after everything I've done to try and keep up with what Alex Whiter was doing, it turns out there was a whole lot more I didn't know…" Riku began crying a bit as he spoke, and a couple teardrops fall to the ground as he nears the end of his words.

As Mew, Kairi and Auris looked on, Riku suddenly exclaimed in a bitter and desperate tone "I don't want Alex or Justek to succeed! What was the point of anything we've done if he or Justek destroys it all?!" Riku clenches his fingers tightly and punches the ground once, andthen he said nothing else. After a couple seconds, Mew dispelled his sword and walked over to his brother, kneeling down and placing his left arm over his brother's shoulders to act like a hug of sorts, and as Riku turned his head with a couple tears on his cheeks Mew smiled and remarked "We're not going to let this universe be destroyed. We haven't fought this long for nothing Riku, I promise."

Mew then closed his eyelids and said "Hehehe, it's not like we've needed all the information on our minds to save the universe before. We'll learn more about what's going on as we keep on fighting with everything we've got, just like always." Riku lowered his eyelids slightly and remarked "…Do you really think it'll work out in the end?" Mew patted Riku on the back as lightly as he could and bluntly stated "Hell yeah! I mean, I'm still alive, aren't I?"

Riku paused in wide-eyed shock at his brother's continuing optimism, and with a quick sniffle and a raising of his hand to dry his tears off he remarks "Heh…I guess that's true enough." Riku then starts to stand upright, with Mew following alongside him. And once the two stand up Kairi remarks to them while sounding tired from all that has happened "L-Look you guys…I hate to rush this bonding moment, but didn't Lunis say we have a time limit to stop him?"

Mew widened his eyes slightly and with a snap of his fingers remarked "R-Right! We should really get going, shouldn't we?" Mew glanced over at Auris and said to her with a brief smile on his face "Sorry we caused you trouble Auris. Wish we could talk a little more, but we got to run!" Mew immediately made a sprint for the front door, slipping past Kairi as she stepped off to the side for a moment and glanced at her mother in a concerned manner, wanting to murmur out to her after hearing all that Auris said regarding her attempts to end her own life.

Auris just lowered her head slightly and remarked "Kairi dear…When this all blows over, you're welcome to talk to me about whatever you want. I promise you that much for all the trouble I've forced onto you…" Kairi raised her eyebrows and remarked "I-I promise we'll make it back mom! I won't let our people suffer like this again!" She then turns around and follows Mew out the door, and Riku was about to do the same when Auris stop him by remarking "Wait Riku, there's one last thing I want to say."

Riku glanced over his shoulder and remarked in a slightly embarrassed tone "L-Look Auris, I really am so-" "That's not what this is about, you can have time for an apology later. There's something important I can only tell you. It would be devastating if Kairi heard this, and I can't trust Mew enough to not tell the truth…" Auris remarked, and then took a couple steps forward to get close to Riku's ear before whispering to him "If nothing else, I will take some partial blame for what has happened here with Alex Whiter and Justek's return…Because I gave birth to the catalyst of these events."

As Auris pulled back, Riku stared at her with a look of confusion until she closed her eyelids and remarked "The events of the last two years…It wasn't just your journey that occurred during that period." Riku put on a more serious expression and thought to himself _"Is Auris telling me that the girl with blonde hair that Alex pursued relentlessly to the Marvel universe…Was her daughter?"_ Auris lifted her head up and remarked "I know you likely have your suspicions now…But there's a lot to be said about what happened."

"Then what's the point of telling me this now?" Riku inquired, and Auris quickly responded with "To give you some information to use against Alex Whiter the next time you see him. Your chance will come Riku, but you have to be patient a little longer." Riku nodded his head a couple times and then said to Auris "Alright, I'll keep that in mind then. I need to get going now, but thanks…And again, I'm s-"

Tilting her head, Auris remarks with a smile "Just wait for that until later. Take care of yourself, Riku." Riku turned around and went out the door to catch up with Mew and Kairi, while Auris just raised a hand to her neck and rubbed the reddened skin as it began to fade away. She then closed her eyelids and remarked solemnly "This was just the beginning of it all…The real challenge starts now…"

 _Next Time: Leviathan of the Sky_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Guardian of the Atmosphere**

At the edge of the city, Mew and Kairi stand around waiting for Riku to catch up with them. Mew folded his arms together and remarked "…I guess your mother must have kept Riku behind to tell him something." Kairi let out a melancholy grumble as she stood beside Mew, leading to him looking at her and saying while rubbing the back of his head nervously "Look Kairi, I know that was pretty stressful to watch…"

"Why didn't you at least try to stop your brother…?" Kairi inquired, and Mew widened his eyes slightly and glanced away from Kairi before answering her with "Well I was worried about your mother. Riku's right, I wouldn't have been able to force him to let go of her without harming Auris. Riku knows everything I can do, he'd see a lot of my moves coming from a mile away. But really…I don't think Riku would actually have killed your mother in the first place."

"…You can't be sure of that." Kairi remarked quietly, and Mew said to her immediately "Sure I can. Riku's my brother after all…A brother I haven't seen in a couple years, but I could tell that his heart is still in the right place. He just seemed pretty stressed out over this whole affair with Alex and Justek. And he doesn't have to worry about a demon taking him over if he gets too angry either."

Kairi turned to look at Mew and told him bluntly "You know, I get what you're trying to say Mew…But it doesn't make me dislike your brother any less after he attacked my mother. It's going to take more than an apology from him to make me forget that." Mew shrugged at that nonchalantly and told her "Well fair enough, but I know Riku's going to do everything he can to apologize for that anyways. So don't give him too much grief when he does, alright?"

Kairi didn't say much of anything in regards to Riku afterwards, just letting out a single distressed sigh before going on to another subject since Mew brought the matter to her attention again. Looking at him, Kairi inquired "…By the way Mew, since I have a chance to ask…Why didn't 'D.' possess you when you fought Alex?" Mew widened his eyes for a split second and then remarked in a somewhat puzzled tone "Well…He said he'd get more enjoyment out of the ordeal if I had full control. That demon's a real bastard sometimes, but at least he DIDN'T possess me."

"You should consider yourself more than a little lucky right now." Kairi remarked with a worried look in her eyes, and Mew said "It's not like I'm not a little worried. I have to keep my emotions in check for a while now or 'D.' will take me over again." And by the time he finished saying that, he looked on ahead and saw Riku running over to catch up with them, at which point Mew raised his right hand up and waved out to make sure he'd notice them at the edge of the city.

Once Riku caught up to them, Mew remarked "So Auris held you back for a bit, huh?" Riku wasn't surprised that his brother figured that out, and to avoid suspicion towards what the two talked about he quickly said "Yeah, I wanted to apologize to her for everything I did." Riku then glanced over at Kairi, who looked away the moment he focused at her, and after Riku lowered his eyelids slightly and felt some guilt for his actions he looked back at his brother and remarked "Brother, are we ready to go now?"

"Yes, but there's something I want to bring up first." Mew then raised a pointer finger beside his face and said as Kairi and Riku looked at him in confusion "Kairi's not as fast as either of us, Riku. We're stuck running on the ground until we reach the tunnel Lunis mentioned, so we need to come up with some idea on how to get to our destination quickly without flying…Got any ideas Riku?"

"You're offering the suggestion and don't have a plan? Well…I guess what we could do is take one of the icebergs down below and convert it into a high-speed boat. We should make it to the tunnel quickly if we just go straight down the Atlantic Ocean." Riku tosses out an idea quickly, with Mew nodding his head to show he liked the plan, but then he said "Of course, we'd need a pretty big iceberg considering that the Vortexians are likely going to come after us. It's not that hard to figure that out though, the arctic circle isn't that big."

Kairi looked at both of them with a bit of annoyance on her face, and as she held her hands together behind her back and tapped her foot she let out a sigh and then remarked "You know Mew, there's a really simple solution to all this really." Mew looked at her and asked as she turned away while appearing to be deep in thought "What is it?" Kairi then paused for a moment, turned back to look at Mew and laid a hand on his right shoulder, patting it a couple of times to try to give him a hint.

When Mew just tilted his head and said nothing, Kairi lowered her eyelids more and patted the other shoulder as well, and then Mew commented "My shoulders are a little stiff, but I don't think this is going to help us out at all." Kairi raised her eyebrows in disbelief and said "Really?" in sheer disbelief before just making her idea bluntly obvious by going behind Mew and quickly leaping onto his back, hugging her legs over the front of his waist while wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

As Kairi's breasts pressed against the back of Mew's neck, Mew turned his head slightly and remarked with a surprised stutter "H-Hey now…" Kairi turned her head to the right and told him quietly as she smiled slyly "You're my boyfriend, so you should have thought of this idea all on your own. Well, now that you're so kind to carry me, you two can run at full speed and make it to the tunnel in no time."

Mew shrugged his shoulders and remarked "She's right you know. Might as well just go with this plan and get moving. How much time do you think we have left to defeat Lunis?" Riku commented "We have likely an hour and forty minutes left until…Whatever happens. Actually, do we even know what will happen when the time passes? Lunis said nothing, right?" Mew nodded his head in response to that.

"Lets talk about that along the way." Mew remarked, and Riku nodded in agreement before the two of them faced the edge of the barrier and leaped right out of it, descending from the sky towards the icy waters below while Kairi held on to Mew's back as best as she could. "Just a fair warning Kairi! I'm going to be going pretty fast here, so hang on! …Just not too much, or you'll choke me by accident." Mew exclaimed against the winds created from his descent towards the water.

"I will be fine! Just worry about focusing on the water!" Kairi exclaimed in turn, and by then the two brothers landed down onto the water, using their powers to keep themselves from falling in, and they ended up creating a small shockwave of water out from their feet. Mew and Riku then look on ahead and sprint forward, kicking up the water heavily behind them as they ran. Thankfully, their control over the elements kept tidal waves from rising up as they ran like a blur across the water, going straight down south towards the other side of the planet.

Along the way Mew stuck close enough to Riku as he could and said "So I think I've figured out Lunis' plan here. I got to say, it's frighteningly unique…" Riku didn't like the sound of that and remarked "What is it then?" Mew explained briefly as he looked up towards the sky "See how that layer of ice encompasses the entire planet? Well I'm guess the ice started from the moon to create the tunnel before spreading out to encage the planet. Considering Lunis' is a High Deity of the Moon, I imagine it'd be easy for him to hold the moon in place. So take that into consideration and think about our situation a little."

Riku widened his eyes without having to think about that much, and then remarked in a disturbed tone "The moon's stuck in place…But the Earth is still moving. And it may not seem like it, but the Earth moves pretty fast…If it crashes into the ice surrounding it, then the entire planet will be crushed against it. You're right, that is frightening to think about." Kairi remarked as she lifted her head up slightly "And that's why we can't just deal with the ice right now. Lunis' control over the moon means if he wanted to, he could make the Earth get crushed faster. We're forced to play by Lunis' rules…"

"More like we have to play by Justek's rules…He's the one telling them what to do." Riku commented, and it wasn't long after that when both he and Mew flinched upon feeling something off in the water behind them. Kairi glanced back for the both of them and saw a swarm of large pointed fins made of black and blue fog sticking out from the surface. "Vortexians right behind us!" Kairi exclaimed as one of the fins got close enough to the trio, at which point it dove into the water slightly before leaping right out at Mew in particular.

The Vortexian was a boney shark with foggy yellow eyes devoid of pupils and fangs with thick running red liquid dripping off of them. This "Vortexian Bone Shark" was about to plunge it's fangs down onto Mew when Riku broke back a little bit and drew his sword, leaping up to swing his blade at the Vortexian to cut it right in half vertically. The halves of the Vortexian drop into the water and crumble apart, and Riku falls to the water and pushes himself back to catch up with Mew quickly while the Bone Sharks keep up their pursuit.

"I'll hold the Vortexians off! Just focus on keeping Kairi from falling off your back!" Riku exclaimed before swinging his sword horizontally to cut down another Bone Shark the moment it leaps out of the water. As Riku held off the Vortexians, Mew grinned and remarked "See? He's making sure you'll be alright." Kairi kept holding on to Mew's neck well enough and said to him "W-Well…I mean it's a nice gesture and all but…"

Kairi widened her eyes as she looked on ahead and saw some bubbling in the water at various points, and she quickly dropped her earlier sentence to exclaim "Heads-up!" Some large spiked tentacles burst out of the water's surface to get in Mew's path, and he has to whip back and forth across the water to prevent him from getting hit as the tentacles lash around. After the tentacles fail to hit Mew, they retract into the water and the main body begins to pull itself from the surface a good distance away from Mew's current location.

It was a towering Vortexian shaped like a Kraken, complete with swelled up red eyes in the center of it's face and a pointed head. The edge of it's foggy body was grey and peach in color, and as it's tentacles rose up around it's body Mew remarked with a confident smirk "You think I'm going to pause to deal with you?" As Kairi widened her eyes and realized what reckless action Mew was going to take she said "This is pretty crazy, but I'll help out here. Just take him out quickly!"

As the Vortexian Devil Kraken let out a crackling cry, Mew kicked himself off the ground with enough force that it was almost like he was flying. The water below where he kicked erupted like a geyser, and he went straight towards the towering Vortexian while swinging his right foot forward. Kairi held on for dear life as her heart raced in excitement, but she held enough concentration to wrap some aura around Mew's foot to increase it's strength. With it, Mew is able to kick right through the tentacles as they try to attack him, and then eventually plunge his foot right through the head of the Devil Kraken itself.

After putting a hole into the Vortexian and emerging out of the other side of the beast, Mew spins himself around a couple times while descending towards the water. Kairi was grinning from cheek to cheek and letting out a merry "WAHOOO!" thanks to the adrenaline rushing through her body. As Mew landed on the water's surface he immediately kicked forward as the Devil Kraken fell backwards and broke down, and Riku ran around the fallen beast to catch up with his brother in a matter of seconds.

As Mew could feel Kairi's heart beating against the back of his neck, he smiled and said "That was pretty fun, wasn't it?" Kairi tried to calm herself down but just had a little giggle and said "S-Shut up…It's not the time to be having fun." "Actually, I think a little relieved stress is a good thing to have, right?" Mew remarked in a quiet and empathetic tone of voice.

Kairi paused for a moment before letting out a happy murmur and then wrapping her arms warmly under Mew's shoulders, letting herself relax as the two brothers made their way across the remainder of the Atlantic Ocean. At the tail end of this vast ocean, they were getting very close to Antarctica, but they did not need to cross that continent in the slightest as the tunnel they were looking for was directly above them. "I think it's safe to say we can fly now…Lets head to the moon!" Mew exclaimed excitedly, and Kairi opened her eyelids as the two brothers kicked off the ground and took flight towards the tunnel.

Kairi pulled herself away from Mew's body and took flight herself, and the trio made their way to the tunnel. It was easy to tell that something was going to get in their way considering no Vortexians were showing up to slow them down, and sure enough at the lip of the tunnel a vortex big enough to cover it's massive circumference slowly forms into existence. The trio stopped a good distance away from the tunnel and watch as the vortex slowly pulled in another obstacle for them to fight.

Dragged into the sky near the edge of the icy barrier was a large green draconic leviathan with piercing but small yellow irises amidst it's hollow black eyes, which protrude a bit to the back of it's draconic face. Across it's long body were yellow lines that occasional formed ovals, and these lines were broken up by three segments that each had four aerodynamic fins with pink-reddish edges. It's slim, pointed tail had two more of these fins, and near it's two short and almost bone-like arms were a couple more of those fins. This draconic leviathan hovers around past the vortex as it vanishes for a few seconds with a look of beastly confusion on it's face.

Mew and Riku draw their swords while Kairi pulls out her staff, with Mew commenting in a surprised "The Legendary Pokemon Rayquaza…To think I'd ever find myself facing one of these." As Rayquaza turns it's head around a little bit it quivered in shock upon looking at the ice around the planet's atmosphere. Immediately it turned itself around and let out an angered roar, opening it's fanged mouth up wide and letting loose a large beam of white light upon the ice, moving it's head to guide the beam across the ice in an attempt to rip through it.

But it is to no avail, as for all the power this mighty leviathan released, it could only slightly scar the ice, leaving smoke in it's wake. Kairi lowered her eyelids as the beast attacked the ice once more with another powerful, and remarked quietly "That poor thing…It doesn't know where it's at. It's confused, and his aura is irregular because of the pain it's in." Riku commented afterwards "The beast will likely be turned on us soon…What do we do here? This isn't like Metal Face, it's a one-of-a-kind creature…"

Mew grit his teeth slightly and remarked "This is a predicament. Rayquaza's been dragged into this fight against it's will…But we can't just keep Rayquaza here until we figure out a way to send it back home. The humans would freak out if they saw it." As Rayquaza turned around to face the trio, Mew in particular tightened the grip on his sword and knew what was coming next. A bright red light shone down from above Rayquaza, and another of the Anti-Genesis Theorem spheres came down towards Rayquaza…Along with a strange looking meteorite.

The Anti-Genesis Theorem and the meteorite merge together, creating a crimson meteorite with a frighteningly wavy aura that manages to hold Rayquaza in place by entrancing it with it's light. Then, after a couple moments, the meteorite forces itself into Rayquaza's mouth, with the beast chomping down onto it without a moment's hesitation. It was at that very moment, the beast's pupils shrink and it starts to get enveloped in a radiant sphere of blue, green and yellow, with broken violet energy lashing out around it's circumference.

But it doesn't take long for the radiance to be banished away, as darker colors like red, black and purple cover the sphere, and the energy shoots out from the sphere in the form of crimson lightning bolts as the sphere cracks apart. Rayquaza bursts forth from the sphere without waiting another second, but this time it's form has changed. It was now at least ten feet longer than before, with it's body having become more divine in appearance. It had a pair of pointed mandibles beside it's jaw that had glowing black and red strands of energy attached to the sides, each strand being a little more than half as long as the creature's body length. Two more strands were attached to the tips of it's smooth, thin horns. It's fins were now all pointed backwards with black edges, and save for a "Delta" mark on it's forehead the lines on it's body were mostly replaced with glowing pale-purple undersides between where the fins were, with at least four red-black ovals on each segment. Finally there was it's tail, which now had tattered streams of black hair waving on both sides of the tip, and Rayquaza's green skin had become entirely crimson.

"Watch out! Rayquaza has Mega Ev-…!" Mew's warning to Kairi is interrupted when Rayquaza bursts forward at an extreme level of speed that Mew couldn't react to in time, leading to the beast slamming it's head against the front of Mew's body and sending him flying a couple miles back across the sky. Rayquaza then roars angrily as it swings it's head from the left to right in front of him, releasing the same type of white light from it's mouth as powerful, but the beam in question is a lot bigger than before and far more destructive.

Mew recovers from the head butt and rubs his stomach with left hand before lifting his head up to notice the beam coming straight at him. Mew quickly flies to the right to get out of the way, widening his eyes as the beam just nearly grazes his left arm and continues to go flying across the planet for a few seconds more before it faded out of view. "You got to be kidding me…" Mew remarked in a shocked tone before looking back at Rayquaza, who swung its serpentine body around to face Riku with it's eyes burning bright red from the Anti-Genesis Theorem buried within it.

Riku swung his sword quickly to send waves of flame at Rayquaza and then flew to the right to avoid it's attempt to lash forward and bite him with a mighty crunch of it's jaw, throwing more waves of flame at the Pokemon's body as quickly as he could, but all the flames just burned out the moment they touched Rayquaza's body. Riku dispelled his sword and swung his arms out to pull ice from the Antarctica continent below and throw it straight up at Rayquaza, but before he could keep his concentration on the ice the Pokemon swung it's right claws out at him and created three scars across the sky as it struck Riku with the middle claw in particular.

Riku's shirt is cut into horizontally from the claw and blood is drawn from his chest and parts of his upper arms. Rayquaza then coiled it's body up loosely and pointed it's head towards the sky, and after electricity sparks in it's mandibles it fires off a couple bolts towards dark clouds above it. The clouds releases one gigantic bolt of red lightning down towards Riku, and he's forced to fly back to avoid it. Rayquaza then tries to head butt Riku, but Kairi quickly creates a couple layers of aura to hold back Rayquaza's head butt.

But Rayquaza quickly raised it's head up again and after a brief glow from the symbol on it's forehead it slams down once more, releasing a shockwave of psychic energy as it strikes Kairi's aura. The energy rips apart the aura and lashes against Riku's body to knock him back, and Kairi feels a jolt of pain in her brain that was similar to if a nail was taken to it. Kairi raised a hand to her head and let out a brief cry, but this just made Rayquaza focus it's attention onto her. Mew widened his eyes upon seeing this and drew his sword in front of him, remarking as he went for the white trigger "There's no barrier this time…Please let this work!"

He pulled the trigger and was immediately enveloped in light, and he quickly transformed into his Light Form. With diamond katana gripped in hand as he swung it to the right, Mew widened his eyes and flew right at Rayquaza so quickly that his body became a bolt of white light. As Rayquaza charged at Kairi, Mew broke out of the light and swung his sword at the side of Rayquaza's body, putting on a fierce teeth gritted expression as he manages to blow the mighty beast back.

A scar of light is left in Rayquaza's skin for a couple moments as it lets out a brief roar of surprise, but as it turns to face Mew the scar fades from sight. Though it was clear the damage was still done due to how the Pokemon reacted. Kairi recovered from the pain in her head and looked ahead of her to see that Mew has changed forms, leading to her remarking in surprise "W-Wait, we can use our other forms now?" Mew couldn't get a chance to answer her since Rayquaza quickly turned on him and opened it's mouth to release a large plume of flames that Mew has to block by raising a sphere of light around himself.

Kairi wastes no time in hitting the Angel Drive stone on her bracelet to activate it, changing into her angelic form and remarking "Hold out a little more! I got this!" Before she took her rapier into the grasp of both of her hands and dived down at Rayquaza, thrusting her rapier out rapidly at the beast's head. The sky is filled with blinding streaks from Kairi's blade as she keeps attacking Rayquaza until the beast closes it's mouth to stop it's flamethrower and opens it up again to try attacking Kairi with a bite from it's electric teeth.

Kairi flies up slightly and thrusts her rapier downward while floating horizontally as the beast bites down on the open air, and the tip of her blade hits the beast's head hard enough to knock it downward slightly and create a dissolving tornado of light wind around the blade. Rayquaza recovers from that and opts to fly downward for a little, moving forward and going around in a large circle a couple times as it flies back up. It lights up the strands of energy extending out from his face and fires off more crimson lightning bolts at Mew and Kairi.

Once bolt hits Kairi across her right shoulder before she can turn and get a full barrier of aura up, singing through her clothes and putting a light burn onto her skin. Kairi grimaces but swings her rapier in a circle in front of her to create a halo of aura, firing it off right at Rayquaza's neck as the beast lines itself up to charge at her again. Kairi makes sure to wrap the halo around the Pokemon's neck and make it explode by pulling back on her rapier, and this explosion of light aura manages to make Rayquaza flinch.

But Rayquaza immediately pauses in place and open it's mouth to fire another beam of white light straight out. As Kairi prepares to create a massive aura barrier to protect herself, Riku suddenly flies in front of her in his similar looking Light Form and swings his own diamond katana out horizontally in front of him, creating a reflective mirror from his light that is able to send the gigantic beam off in another direction. And then Mew gets in the path of the beam and creates his own reflective barrier with a single swing of his sword, directing the beam to strike Rayquaza's back.

The beam hits the Pokemon hard and drags it down towards the ground as it roars a bit in pain. When the energy subsides Rayquaza was rather close to the icy grounds of Antarctica, but it barely flinches in the face of the cold weather despite being normally weak to it. In fact, Rayquaza emits a wavy field around it's body that causes the cold fog to disperse for the moment, and it manages to scare some of the wildlife away as well with it's mighty and frighteningly divine presence.

But Rayquaza immediately lifts it's head up and after coiling itself up slightly it swung it's tiny arms out and let out a roar as plumes of red smoke emerge across the length of it's body along with swirls of brown and black around itself. Then it thrust itself back up faster than before and put itself in-between all three of it's opponents as they ignited their swords in light and swung them out to send large waves of light at the Pokemon, but the beast summoned forth three barely visible screens made of light to deflect the attacks away from it's body and then makes the tip of it's tail glow brightly.

Rayquaza violently spun it's body around with it's tail extended outward, and even with the trio setting up barriers to protect themselves Rayquaza breaks right through their defenses with it's tail and strikes a strong blow to their bodies, cracking whatever armor they are wearing and blowing them away in separate directions. Rayquaza, focused on Mew after it was done swinging itself around, let out a light growl before opening it's mouth up wide and releasing a electrified blast of violet, red and blue draconic energy all at once towards Mew.

Mew spreads his wings out to brake in place, and then he swings his sword out while extending the blade's length twice by igniting it with pure light. Mew grinds the blade against the draconic energy with a great deal of resistance from the latter, but manages to repel it after a couple seconds. He then looked at Rayquaza and while thinking about how much time is being spent dealing with the Pokemon he exclaims "Rayquaza! We're not your enemy! Control yourself, I know you can!"

The attempt to plead to the Pokemon's sentience did not work in the slightest, as Rayquaza was too consumed by the energies of the Anti-Genesis Theorem, which combined with it's desire to protect the atmosphere it's supposed to be the guardian of meant it was entirely focused on taking the trio down. Rayquaza's eyes glowed brightly before it charged itself at Mew again, but this time Mew grasped his sword tightly around all of his fingers and remarked "Then I guess I'll have to knock you out…"

Mew rushed at Rayquaza and swung his sword around rapidly but precisely as he zipped around the length of the Pokemon's body, leaving visible scars across it's form before he flew past it's tail. Rayquaza turned himself around and opened it's mouth, firing off a concentrated blast of pure physical energy in the form of a focused sphere. Mew turned himself around and swung his sword in front of him to slice through the attack, and then he performed a backflip while smirking confidently to get out of Rayquaza's way.

Mew lands on Rayquaza's back and swings his sword downward to cut at him quickly, while in the distance Kairi uses her rapier as an arrow and makes a bow out of aura, and after letting go of her pulled back handle she fires off a series of thin arrows of light aura at Rayquaza. Rayquaza spun itself around to deflect the arrows and also shake Mew off it's back. Mew gladly flies off the mighty Pokemon and looks over at Riku, who was gliding his way over to Rayquaza while raising his katana up high for a single powerful slash.

Before Rayquaza could defend itself, Riku cut straight down and bathed the sky in a gigantic scar of light that cut partway through the center of the Pokemon's body, making Rayquaza widen it's eyes and letting out a very pained roar. Riku flew back a bit to put some distance away from Rayquaza as the beast recovered from the attack and swung it's head around looking at all three of it's foes, but then glared at Mew in particular and widened it's eyes, letting out a single cry before it straightened itself out towards him.

As red aura spreads out from the front of it's head and goes across the length of it's body like a massive cone of pure energy, and the strands of energy lashed towards the extensions on it's tail and attached to them, making Rayquaza's body look a little like the symbol on it's forehead if it was looked at from above. Rayquaza charges straight at Mew with all of it's speed and strength put into this desperate attack, and the aura splits off as a streak of pure red energy behind the Pokemon.

Rayquaza lets out a mighty roar as Mew could feel the overwhelming power within the Pokemon's body. With the power it had thanks in part to the Anti-Genesis Theorem, Rayquaza could split an entire planet in two with it's Dragon Ascent. Mew would have to throw all his concentration he could to keep the Pokemon from ripping him in two. But at the same time, Mew had an idea to finish the battle while holding Rayquaza back. Praying that his brother would know what he wanted to do, Mew quickly threw his katana at Riku while exclaiming "Catch!"

Mew then thrusts his hands forward and coats his palms with as much light as he could pull from his body, wrapping himself in a spherical barrier with at least twenty layers of pure light energy keeping him protected. Mew left nothing to chance, and Rayquaza as slammed right into him full force with his Dragon Ascent the Pokemon released a gigantic burst of red lightning from it's forehead and immediately broke through seven of Mew's barriers. Rayquaza pressed as hard as he could against Mew's barriers to try and break through.

Meanwhile, Riku swung his left hand out to grab Mew's katana out of the air, but then he widened his eyes as he felt an odd pulse flowing into his body. It felt like Mew's own energy, his heart, and his warmth were briefly becoming one with Riku's own body. Riku only noted the connection for a moment before he glared at Rayquaza, whose lashing waves of energy were beginning to strike at him. Riku widened his eyes and exclaimed "Brother, hang on!" He swung both katanas out beside his body, but before he went on the attack Kairi flew up beside Riku and remarked "H-Hang on! I'll power the katanas with some of my aura."

Kairi swung her right hand out and filled both katanas with her light aura, putting in a couple layers on both blades and making them glimmer brightly from the top of the handle to the tip of the blade. Riku crosses his swords together in front of his face, hiding his firm, determined expression behind the glow of the blades as Kairi exclaimed "We're finishing this together!" Riku focused on the length of Rayquaza's body and saw that the Pokemon had taken off seven more of Mew's barriers. Gripping the handles of the katanas tightly, Riku felt Mew's strength assisting him, and everything but Rayquaza was wiped away from Riku's line of sight, enveloped in bright white light.

With one widening of his eyes, Riku thought to himself _"Now!"_ and threw himself right at Rayquaza, going from the tail of the Pokemon to the head while zipping up and down, moving well beyond the speed of light as he took both katanas and cut at Rayquaza's body. Though Riku could see and feel every attack he made, from Kairi's perspective, Riku performed all his moves in a single millisecond before thrusting himself right past Rayquaza's head as a single streak of pure light, emerging out of this form with his body leaning forward and both swords held over his shoulders as his arms were crossed before his chest.

As Riku spread his wings and time flowed again as normal, he remarked "Tri-Light…BANISHMENT!" The scars Riku put into Rayquaza are revealed to be a series of crosses, all of which explode and consume the beast with glowing crosses of flaming light, shattering the energy around it's body from the Dragon Ascent and surprising Rayquaza entirely as the light hits it hard enough to send it crashing down towards the continent below. Mew's last barrier shatters around this time from weakness, just in time for him to watch as Rayquaza lets out a pained roar as it's smoking body slams right against the icy grounds of Antarctica, shaking the continent and leaving large cracks around the spot it impacted.

Mew holds his right hand out beside him and casually grabs his katana back after Riku throws it his way, but he drops out of Light Form much to Riku and Kairi's surprise and quietly descended towards Rayquaza's location. The beast was unconscious in the crevice it made, and after being consumed by a flash of light it went back to it's more basic form, with the Anti-Genesis Theorem infused meteorite rising up and crumbling apart seconds later. Mew kneeled down at the edge of the crevice and extended his hand out, deciding to give Rayquaza a bit of his own energy to help it recover.

Riku and Kairi descended from the sky and dropped out of their forms, with Kairi remarking as she stepped beside Mew "Umm…You sure it's a good idea to do this?" Mew remarked quickly after "Why not? Without the Anti-Genesis Theorem Rayquaza isn't going to attack us. It was just following it's instincts even if it was on another world." Mew finished giving the mighty Pokemon some of it's energy and backed up as Rayquaza opened it's eyes up and quickly pulled the upper part of it's body out of the crevice, turning itself around slowly to look at it's environment before focusing down on the trio.

Riku stayed cautious just in case while Kairi was more in awe of how majestic Rayquaza looked when it just stood there, towering over them even with half of it's body in the crevice. Mew smiled at Rayquaza as it blinked a couple of times and let out a tired but suspecting growl. Raising a hand up, Mew caused Rayquaza to flinch before he said "It's alright Rayquaza, we're not here to threaten you anymore." He spoke quietly and calmly to not set the Pokemon off, and Rayquaza appeared to be listening while swaying it's body back and forth slightly.

"Think he does understand us?" Riku inquired, and Mew nodded his head and said while continuing to respect Rayquaza by looking him right in the eyes "Rayquaza, I'm sorry you got pulled to our world. I wish we didn't have to fight you just now, but it was the only way we were going to save you from being controlled by our current enemies. I don't know how exactly we're going to get you back, however…" Mew hated to say that last part, but it seems Rayquaza was not exactly concerned about it, as after a slight growl it lifted it's head up look towards the sky and saw a vortex opening up near the tunnel.

The trio followed the Pokemon's gaze and were actually shocked to find that vortex there, with Riku remarking "You can't be serious…He's actually going to be allowed to go back home?" Needless to say, this decision made Riku curious about what kind of person Lunis was if they were so willing to let one of their puppets return home safely, assuming that of course the vortex wasn't a trap. Riku looked at Rayquaza and said to him "Just be careful alright? Who knows what lies beyond the portal."

Rayquaza looked straight at Riku and after a momentary pause Riku suddenly heard a very reserved and wise sounding voice tell him _"Home…home lies beyond that portal. Thank you though, Elemental Overlord Riku."_ Riku widened his eyes in surprise that he heard such a voice in his head, moreso considering that it could have only come from Rayquaza. The Pokemon leans it's head forward and nudges Mew and Kairi slightly as thanks for their help in saving it, letting out a subdued growl while it did so.

Meanwhile, Riku held a hand to his chest, feeling a rather odd beat in his heart as he felt reminded of his draconic allies and friends Sodenko and Takashi, and with a brief smile he thought to himself _"Hehe, I guess my connection with those two allows me to speak to other dragons mentally. I sure miss you guys…Perhaps I'll go and find you after this blows over."_ As Riku was done with his thoughts, Rayquaza raised it's head up towards the vortex and pulled itself from the crevice it was stuck in, flying straight up at a breakneck pace to return home.

As the trio saw Rayquaza off, Riku commented with a hand to his chin "Brother…I've been thinking about something. Is it entirely possible that everyone dragged here from other worlds have been brought here specifically because we met them in other timelines?" Mew nodded his head and remarked with a chuckle "Really though, it'd probably be more likely they met you Riku…Unless some of those other timelines had me traveling the universe for a couple years."

Rayquaza flew into the vortex, and it sealed up the moment it's tail went through all the way. Kairi remarked while folding her arms behind her head "Well, whatever the case, unless we didn't have to kill this one." Mew grinned and remarked while taking a couple steps forward "Of course not. Pokemon are hard to kill, especially a Legendary like Rayquaza. Looks like our path forward is open now, so we really shouldn't spend anymore time standing around."

Riku and Kairi both agreed with that, and the three flew up towards the tunnel. As they made their way towards it, Riku closed his eyelids slightly and thought to himself _"Lunis Callavira…Why did you let Rayquaza go? Why have you given us plenty of time to stop you from destroying the Earth…? Are you really our enemy, or not? …We'll find out soon enough, I suppose."_

 _Next Time: The Strained Duo, Riku and Kairi?_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: The Mad King and the Great Spirit of Time**

With Rayquaza safely returned to it's home planet through the vortex it came from, the trio were able to begin their flight through the tunnel Lunis left in the layer of ice around the planet, and eventually they would make it to the moon where Lunis would be waiting to fight all of them. The trio stayed close together, and as they flew as fast as they could at the same level of speed they began to feel the change in pressure rather quickly. "Ow ow ow!" Kairi exclaimed as her eardrums popped a little, and Mew looked at her as she shook her head around and flinched slightly a moment later.

"Oh right, all those times we went into space before we went through portals in the pyramid…You're not used to entering space by leaving the atmosphere of the planet." Mew remarked, a little embarrassed that he hadn't taught Kairi about that sooner. Kairi glanced at Mew as her eardrums continued to pop a bit, her head in pain as she remarked "Y-You think? Ugh…My head's going to take some time to adjust to this…"

Mew looked back on ahead and said "Well, it's not like we had a reason to practice this before now….Sorry about that." Kairi looked at Mew some more while blinking twice from the pain in her head before asking "Well whatever…But how did you two learn to adjust to space travel? I mean, surely it wasn't easy…" Mew and Riku both kind of flinched at that remark, looking at each other and realizing that, by all means, they had never really given that any thought before.

Kairi just stared at them both with disbelieving eyes and said "…You're joking. You two actually made traveling through space a breeze to handle?" Riku commented "Well I got my experience directly from my brother…How did you figure it out anyways?" Riku then turned to look at Mew, who scratched the side of his head and commented nervously "T-Truth be told, it wasn't too hard to determine that the only thing stopping me from surviving in space was the lack of oxygen…So I just learned to copy the clean air of the Earth and create a veil of that around my body so I could breathe. Then after that, it's just all about flying as fast as you can without hitting anything."

Kairi lowered her eyelids and with a dumbfounded expression she commented "You can't be serious…And how exactly do you make it back here when you're traveling so far out there? I know how large space is, so it's not like it's as simple as a human driving from one location to another." Mew comments with a simple shrug of his shoulders "I can just feel where home is at all times. It's what you get for living there so long. No matter how far I go or how rattled I get in battle, I'll always remember where I truly belong."

"Hmm…" Riku murmured to himself, looking away from his brother for a moment out of regret of the fact that he could not do the same thing as his brother. But then his regret is cast aside for the moment when he looks further into the tunnel and sees some opposition approaching. A series of Vortexians with figures similar to the Blacksmiths were skating along the sides of the tunnel with bright red arms and silver foggy blades on their feet. They were organized differently along the sides of the tunnel and quickly raised their hands together above their head to create intersecting red laser beams as they spin around the edge of the tunnel to make sure the trio rams into them.

Considering the lasers are gigantic and made of the Anti-Genesis Theorem, Mew and Riku in particular had to be quick and evasive to avoid the lasers, kicking their speed up slightly at certain points while unfortunately leaving Kairi slightly behind. The lasers are intersected together more tightly the close they get to the end of the tunnel, but with their teeth grit Mew and Riku kept bypassing all of them until the very, very end. There, hundreds of Vortexians create an unavoidable wall of lasers.

Kairi widens her eyes and exclaims "Pull back! I have a plan!" and the two brothers listen quickly, slowing themselves down and getting close to Kairi as she slams down onto her Angel Drive to activate it, then quickly she swings her hands out in front of her to create two waves of aura that wrap together into a gigantic sphere capable of protecting the trio from the lasers despite how many of them there are. The sphere rumbles as they fly straight through the wall of lasers quickly with Kairi's guidance, and Kairi holds her hands out to keep sustaining the sphere's structure until they push out the other side. Kairi immediately drops the barrier as all the Vortexian Laser Bladers crumble apart across the tunnel behind them out of failure.

Kairi returns to her normal self as they trio see the grey and cratered surface of the moon ahead of them at the end of the tunnel. Mew and Riku summon forth their wind veils to allow them to breathe and then they flip themselves around and let go of their flight so gravity could slowly allow them to descent onto the moon's surface. Kairi follows close behind a moment later, but she only needs a little help from Mew to breathe. The most immediate thing that grabbed Riku's attention as he landed on the moon was the lack of any sound.

"No breezes…No animal sounds…Nothing. It just feels so empty up here…" Riku commented as he walked forward towards the small hole at the edge of the tunnel's origin point. "I've never actually been to the moon before. I don't think I even considered doing this before now." Mew remarked immediately afterwards in a rather relaxed tone, and as the trio exited the tunnel they were greeted by the barren crater filled lands of the moon. Maybe there were a couple of mountains here and there and the surface looked somewhat brightened by the sun's light beaming past the Earth, but otherwise it was just empty.

But while they thought the land was barren, the trio could not deny that the bright surface of the moon combined with the abundance of stars in the depths of space above was very, very beautiful. Kairi laid her hands together in front of her chest and smiled, remarking in a merry tone "It's so pretty…You could never find anything like this on the Earth." After examining the moon for a couple seconds, Mew turned around and looked at the planet, but couldn't see any of the beautiful green lands or gushing blue waters…There was nothing but the pale white ice surrounding the planet, and the sun very, very far away.

"Alright…Now that we're here we need to find Lunis. I wonder where exactly we'll find them…" Riku inquired, and Mew looked away from the planet to face his brother as he and Kairi began to slowly walk forward, the lesser gravity of the moon making it a little tougher for them to move around at first. Mew paused in place for a moment and then turned his head to glance out at space as thoughts regarding Solaris and Alex Whiter went through his head. _"They are both out there somewhere…I wonder…"_

As Mew was deep in thoughts, it didn't take long for Riku to realize that his brother was lagging behind, and he turned around and inquired "Brother…? Hey, brother!" Mew broke out of his train of thought and turned to look at Riku, and both he and Kairi decided to go back for a moment to find out what the hold up was. Mew gestured his right hand out and admitted with some degree of hesitance "You probably aren't going to like this idea Riku…"

Riku raised his eyebrows in concern and remarked in a disgruntled tone "You're probably right…But go on." Mew then closed his eyelids, taking in a deep breath to prepare himself for what he is about to say. He took everything into consideration…The stakes with Lunis and Justek, Kairi's possible concerns for him, what Riku wanted to do, and most importantly what would happen if he failed. When all of that was brought together, Mew opened his eyelids, crossed his arms and told Riku and Kairi "I'm going after Alex."

Kairi widened her eyes while Riku glared at his brother, remarking after a momentary sigh "I figured this would happen…Brother, Alex went after Solaris. Right now, he's not our problem." Mew swung his arms out and with a halfway smile he said "I get that, I really do…But I know you and Kairi can handle Lunis without me. I want to speak with Alex, there's some things I want to ask him."

"It's dangerous Mew…And there's no guarantee he'll even answer you. He didn't before, remember?" Kairi pointed out, and Mew nodded his head to show that he didn't forget those events yet. "Even so…There's still a chance he'll listen to me. I know you perfectly believe otherwise…You and Riku both, but I can't just give up on Alex until I ask him what's on my mind." Mew commented while trying to be as sincere as he could be as he spoke. Riku raised his eyebrows and wanted to believe what his brother was saying, but there was a lot of concerns that he had to address before he could just let things be.

"Brother, you do know that if he gets close enough to you, he could wipe your memories…? Or worse, he could turn you against us." Riku commented, and Mew nodded his head a couple times and said with his eyelids closed "And I haven't forgotten that. I'll be careful." "It's not about being careful. He's got the Gaia Temporis." Riku felt he had to point out while folding his arms together.

"Yeah, he was using that against Solaris, wasn't he? So long as I keep him from touching it, I'll be fine. You can trust me to handle myself Riku, alright?" Mew said that last part because he wanted his brother to put all his faith into him, but Kairi also comments "Let me come with you Mew. Just to be safe…" Mew shook his head and remarked "Thanks for that, but Riku might run into some more Vortexians or Anti-Genesis Theorem empowered enemies from other worlds. Your aura is necessary to help stop them."

Kairi paused for a moment and while realizing that was true, nevertheless stepped forward a little bit until she was directly in front of Mew, and then she lifted her head up and whispered into his ear "You just want me to spend time with your brother so I can possibly forgive him for what happened earlier…" As Kairi pulled back a bit Mew whispered to her with a smile on his face "That's part of the reason, yeah. But if I don't go by myself, Alex might attack us all."

"It's a big risk…" Kairi remarked, and Mew laughed at that audibly enough for Riku to hear as well and then said "I'm not worried about taking risks if it means saving everyone. Come on Kairi, you know I'm like this." Kairi widened her eyes and then lowered her head with a blush in her cheeks, and after brushing aside some of her hair she remarked "Yeah I'm just being too concerned for my own good."

Kairi pumps her right fist out to hit Mew's chest lightly, and then with a smile she steps back slightly and remarks "Just don't die, and we'll all meet up after we're done with Lunis and go after Justek." "Of course." Mew said quickly, and then he walked up to Riku and gently grabbed his right hand in the grasp of both of his own and lifted them up so they were level with his chest. Mew then looked Riku in the eyes and said "I'll give you a link to my energy. That way once you're done stopping Lunis it'll be easy for you to go after me."

Mew closed his eyelids and concentrated on Riku's hand, putting some of his own energy into the form of an invisible ring around Riku's right ring finger. Once that was created, Mew let go while his brother just looked at him and blinked in confusion a couple times, followed by him then commenting while clenching his right fist tightly "Seriously, be careful, ok brother?" Mew just nodded his head and patted his brother on the shoulder before turning around and kicking off the ground to take flight, heading quickly away from the moon as Riku and Kairi watch up until the point Mew goes over the ice covering the Earth.

Kairi then looks at Riku awkwardly, raising her right hand up and opening her mouth slightly before choosing not to say anything, as Riku took initiative on that end and said "Alright Kairi, lets go stop Lunis from taking out the planet. Where do you think we should go first?" Kairi widened her eyes a bit and then looked around slowly, then turned around slightly to look at the tunnel leading to the planet. After looking back around, Kairi pointed straight ahead from the tunnel's entrance and remarked "If we go straight away from the tunnel, perhaps?"

"It would be a safe bet that Lunis went away from the tunnel…Perhaps the place he put the entrance is the clue, right?" Riku said as he turned around, and Kairi nodded her head once and remarked "Y-Yeah. Can't you tell if Lunis is walking the moon's surface?" Riku nodded his head and then bent down, laying a hand against the ground and deciding to check the moon's surface for any slight tremors. But instead of finding movements, Riku noticed there was something built onto the surface of the moon…A palace of sorts. Widening his eyes, Riku lifted himself and pointed forward and remarked "Lets go, I found something this way."

"Oh good, I thought we'd be wandering around otherwise…" Kairi said with a relieved sigh as Riku started walking forward without her at first, but she lifted her head up and after a brief flinch she ran after him, though the gravity did throw her off for a bit at first. After Riku took some time to get used to the gravity himself, he remarked "Alright, lets get running. We're never going to make it otherwise." He then picked up the pace, running along the surface of the moon as though he was affected by Earth's level of gravity. Kairi kept up with him but was a bit surprised by his ability to adjust so quickly.

Kairi lowered her eyelids slightly and kept her eyes on Riku's backside, thinking as they made their way across the moon's surface _"He's definitely like his brother in some ways…But in other ways he's nothing alike. Mew would never have attacked my mother for one…And Riku just seems a little more serious and focused."_ Kairi decided, out of curiosity, to ask Riku "Say Riku…Umm…" But it was hard to put her question into words without going back to what happened early, especially when the memory of seeing her mother pinned against the wall was fresh in her mind.

Riku didn't seem to hear her though, as her quick, quiet words combined with their travels across the moon's surface made it difficult for him to listen in. Kairi glanced off to the side and remarked in her head _"Damn it, this is so hard to do…"_ But she couldn't exactly blame herself too much. Between the last time she tried to have a conversation with Riku directly like this, Kairi has seen how different Riku was from his brother. The ease from thinking the two were similar was long gone, and Riku was now someone she had to approach differently.

Kairi shook her head a couple times and thought to herself bluntly _"Come on Kairi, he's not an enemy…He's not like Alex Whiter at all. He may have attacked your mother, but-"_ Once her attempt at rationalization looped back to that, Kairi stopped herself and felt her heart skip a beat. Kairi grit her teeth and looked at Riku again, and that feeling of not knowing what was on his mind was almost unbearable at this point. _"How much guilt is he feeling…? What is on his mind…? S-Should I just directly confront him about this…?"_

Kairi gulped some saliva down her throat and opened her mouth ready to scream out Riku's name bravely, but then he quickly remarked "We're getting close. Brace yourself for battle Kairi" and she stopped what she was prepared to do and looked on ahead to see a large, magnificently bright pure silver palace in the distance. The palace glimmered and shone, making it difficult to make out just what it looked like save for it's size, which was larger than any palace that possibly existed on the Earth.

The entrance was easy to notice though at the front of the palace, and the two sprinted for it as fast as they could to avoid getting caught out by any Vortexians that might be waiting. As they got closer to the palace, some of it's brightness died down, but it was still quite magnificent to look at. "Wonder how long this palace was here for…Tsk, just another question for Lunis to answer, I suppose." Riku commented with a bit of surprise regarding the palace's appearance.

Before the two made it to the palace's gates, however, a vortex appeared directly in front of their path, stopping them just one hundred feet before the sparkling palace gates. Riku grinded to a halt alongside Kairi, and cautiously he drew his right hand back and prepared to summon his sword for whatever was coming through. But then a second vortex opened up beside the first, and Riku appeared rather shocked by this and quickly remarked "So now they're sending more than one after us…"

Kairi reached for her staff and swung it out beside her as the first figure emerged from the vortex, a stout, odd looking man with tan skin, a bald head, a flat wide nose, and a wide mouth. He has on him a white and green cloak with two red eyes vertically set on the front, and both of his regular eyes were closed. But even so, the moment he was out of the vortex, he smiled slightly, as though he knew what was going on around him. The second vortex brought out a more mythical looking being with pale skin, silver hair splitting down to his waist on both sides of his body with a couple of "ears" attached to the top of it, strange white and black clothes that fit perfectly onto his body, and two slightly crescent blades attached to his arms. The moment this being floated out of the vortex, his yellow eyes fixated on Riku in particular with noticeable disdain on his expression.

Kairi widened her eyes a bit and whispered "I recognize these two…It's the Mad King Ballos and the Great Spirit of Time Chronos…" Riku commented in turn "Two very powerful foes…And clearly Lunis' last major line of defense against us. We still got an hour and ten minutes until we lose the Earth to the ice." Ballos remained entirely quiet but kept the grin on his face, while Chronos just raised his right hand up and remarked in a cold but calm tone "So I find you here now, Elemental Overlord Riku."

Riku raised his eyebrows slightly and remarked "So you've met me as well in another timeline, Chronos." Chronos commented as he pointed directly at Riku and tilted his head slightly "Of course. You think I would ever forget the likes of you…? Your presence…Your irritating and unnatural presence on Rieze Maxia and Elympios created even more divergence catalysts. You almost single-handedly caused the annihilation of Origin with your mere presence."

Riku gripped his right hand tightly and commented "I won't speak for my other selves, but I'm sure it wasn't their intention to cause that much harm." Chronos merely raised his eyebrows and remarked "Of course not. It's never the 'intention' of humans to cause trouble. They are all innocent, aren't they? Give humans a little power, and they always choose to abuse it…Give humans a great deal of power, and they think they have the right to compare themselves to Great Spirits. That's what humanity is…A bunch of fools who never learn from their mistakes. And with all the power at your disposal, of course you make the biggest mistakes of them all, Elemental Overlord."

Riku closed his eyelids slightly and commented in response "I have made my own share of mistakes, most of them likely separate from my other selves, but that doesn't mean I haven't tried to redeem myself for those mistakes. And not all humanity is like what you say they are." Chronos raised his eyebrows a bit and said "So you might have a point in what you say, Elemental Overlord. But the majority of humanity falls in line with what I've said, and should I allow Origin to perish so those greedy humans can continue to ruin his world? No…All humanity deserves to fail, and protectors such as yourself who would enable their crimes deserve the same fate."

"It's easy to see why you're working with Lunis then…You've been given a chance to gain the power to kill all alternate selves of the Elemental Overlord." The moment Riku made this comment, two of the Anti-Genesis Theorem spheres fell down from above, going directly in front of Chronos and Ballos' bodies. Ballos finally reacted to something after a while of inactivity, and he raised his hands beside his head and accepted the sphere into his body. His eyes opened wide as the sphere merged with him, and after a moment of deep laughter he remarked in an echoing voice "Tell me…Shall you be the one to end this madness?!"

Chronos took his hand to the sphere and remarked "Of course. This sphere is your weakness manifested into physical form…When I take this power for myself, I will put an end to any further interference from the Elemental Overlords across the multiverse." Chronos absorbed the sphere through his hand, and he then swung both of his arms and legs out beside himself as the black on his body changed to a bright red color. "I am Chronos, Master and Great Spirit of Time…You know what this means, don't you?" Chronos remarked.

Riku swings his sword in front of his body and concentrates hard enough to enter Light Form, and as he swings his katana out Chronos summons forth three hollow gears behind his body with three numbered points attached to each one, in total them ranging from "1-9". Chronos then puts his limbs closer to his body and remarks "I am indestructible. Your time is over, Elemental Overlord, face it with what little dignity humanity is capable of assembling." Riku swung his sword out beside himself and ignored Ballos entirely as he exclaimed to Kairi "You handle Ballos, I'll deal with Chronos myself!"

During this point in time, the moon trembles as Ballos swings his arms out and begins changing into some grotesque rocky sphere, taking in parts of the moon rock around him to create a gigantic version of his face with tons of cracks and a big but eerie grin on his face. His right eye is glowing bright red and his white eye is completely docile. Chronos grins a little and then comments "Have it your way Elemental Overlord. I have no intention of letting this mad fool get in my way."

Kairi swings her left hand to her right wrist to activate her Angel Drive for battle, and after the flash of light goes off around her and she transforms Ballos pulls eight spherical moon rocks from the ground, each with closed eyes on them, and surrounds them around his body. Ballos then closes his eyelids and Kairi leaps at him, swinging her rapier out rapidly at his face to try and harm it, but all of her attacks just ricochet off the front of his face with sparks of light coming off each impact. Kairi then spun around fully and pushed herself back as Ballos began to fly around, opening up the red eyes on the stones around him occasionally to send out small bloody lasers out at Kairi.

Kairi skid back along the ground and swung her rapier quickly in front of her to knock the lasers away, then she swung her body around while coating her rapier in bright white aura before quickly swiping the rapier across the air in two different directions to send thin but sharp waves of light through the air at Ballos. The light aura lashes against Ballos' body but just put small cracks into it, and Ballos leaps through the air and lands on the ground rather close to Kairi a moment later to create a large shockwave that throws her off the ground before she could react.

Ballos then tries to attack Kairi with lasers from the eyes around his body, but she quickly recovers and swings her left hand out to create a barrier capable of deflecting the lasers, though with all the lasers firing off in unison they had enough strength to break the barrier. But Kairi just used the shards from the barrier to send them flying at Ballos' eyes in hopes of impaling them, but he wised up and spread the eyes apart to avoid getting hit.

Kairi flew back while looking a bit shocked and then landed on the ground, thinking to herself as she did _"Got to be kidding me…Looks like I can't make my attacks that obvious."_ Ballos opened his mouth up wide and let out a slightly echoing guffaw, but Kairi then firmed her expression and grasped her rapier in both hands swung it out after putting some aura into the rapier, sending forth a crescent wave of energy out towards the right side of Ballos' body. He moved the eyes out of the way again, but this time Kairi guided the aura with her mind back around like a boomerang and had the tip pierce into one of Ballos' eyes while he was not aware. The eye was forced shut from being impaled and sliced through by the aura crescent, and Kairi grinned a little before swinging her rapier out beside her.

Closer to the palace, Riku was deeply engaged in his battle against Chronos, who was using the gears he summoned to create crimson lasers that force Riku to focus on either evading or cutting them down and thus giving Chronos just enough time to concentrate on preparing spells from a safe distance. Riku swung his katana around as fast as he could as the lasers bombarded him, and by the time he gets enough freedom to slice through one of the gears Chronos was able to finish casting his first spell.

As the red glowing seal vanished under his feet he remarked calmly "Sunburst" A bright glowing orange light appears over Riku's body, tracing a circle into the ground that uplifts dust outward from the circle. Riku looks up and sees a miniature sun dropping down in all of it's bright blazing glory. Riku leaps back out of the way and puts up a slight protective shield in front of his body as the sun digs itself into the moon's surface for a few seconds before flashing brightly and letting out an explosion only slightly bigger than itself.

Chronos warps behind Riku and with his back faced at him he stabs the left blade on his arm through Riku's right shoulder without the armor stopping him at all. Riku flinches slightly in pain as a sharp pain rockets through his nerves to his brain, but he only grits his teeth in response and quickly pushes himself forward to free himself for Chronos' blade, followed by him turning around and laying a hand against the front of the cut wound while gripping his katana in his right hand still. Blood leaked between his fingers, but Riku didn't feel deterred at all.

Chronos turned his body around and summoned his other two gears over to his side to fire upon Riku some more with lasers, and Riku swung his sword around while putting some light into his wound to slow down the bleeding and help his healing slightly. Riku is able to hold off the lasers for a bit and then flies at Chronos, swinging his body around in a circle quickly while holding his katana out at arms length to create a gigantic circle of sharp light, but Chronos flies back out of the way before he gets cut.

"Is that really the best you can manage?" Chronos inquires before holding his right hand up and preparing to cast another spell. The ring from Riku's cut hadn't faded yet, and he took advantage of his current position to let go of his katana and mentally swinging the tip against the edge of the blade, sending out a multitude of light discuses out in all directions from the ring. Chronos warps again, but this time takes to above the ground while continuing to cast his spell. The discuses all line up into a spiral and Riku grabs the handle of his sword and swings it out beside him, causing the discuses to all release a gigantic pillar of light through the sky.

Chronos got hit by one of the pillars due to how instantaneously they came out, and he flinched in surprise as the power burned him for a few good seconds. Riku then leaps into the air and turns around to perform a hard slash through the pillars by creating a large blade of light from the katana, slicing through the center of Chronos' chest and taking out his two remaining gears. The pillars disappearing and an unnatural glowing scar appears across Chronos' chest, to which he raised a hand to it and hums a little bit in a curious tone.

Riku flaps his angelic wings a couple times and swings his katana out beside himself before commenting "This is much bigger than what you're thinking it is, Chronos." Chronos lowers his hand away from the scar and glares at Riku coldly, telling him a moment later "Do not presume I know nothing. This is my decision to eliminate you and nothing else." Chronos then swings his limbs out and creates three more gears, returning to a neutral position before he sends the gears out after Riku while raising his right hand out to start casting another spell.

With a violet seal appearing below his feet, it was clear from experience on Riku's end that Chronos was preparing a lightning based attack. _"I've seen these levels of magic before. I can thank Genis and Raine for that."_ Riku thought to himself before swinging his katana twice vertically and horizontally to send two bright crosses at Chronos, and then he turns around and quickly thrusts his katana twice to slice through a couple of his gears, but takes a laser shot to the back for his trouble from the third gear.

Chronos warps away from the crosses while continuing to cast his spell, finishing off by snapping his fingers and remarking "Lightning Blade!" A large but compressed sword made of lightning comes from the sky and flies towards Riku as he turns around to cut down the last gear again, and the blade swings around Riku's body rapidly and makes the occasional pass towards Riku in an attempt to cut him. A couple times the blade draws blood from his arms and legs before Riku gets a lock onto the blade and manages to reflect it by swinging his katana out in an instant.

After a few seconds, Riku decides to break past the Lightning Blade with an instantaneous zip forward, taking the form of light as he approaches the calm Chronos. He breaks out of the light and swings his katana straight ahead, but Chronos raised one of his blade arms to block the attack before warping behind Riku and attempt to stab his other sword through his backside. Riku turns around quickly, briefly taking the form of a blur of light before he swung his katana to attack Chronos' sword.

Chronos warped around and tried to attack while Riku used a great deal of speed to keep up with the Great Spirit's attempts to harm him. Riku then gathered energy in his katana over time and upon turning around once more for an attack he swung his katana as hard as he could in an arc in front of him to strike both of Chronos' swords. Chronos was pushed back and stunned briefly from surprise, but then he lowered his arms and commented "Impressive strength, but I know this Theorem allows me to resist your powers."

Riku grinned and remarked "Resisting is not the same as outright negating, Great Spirit of Time." A moment later, Chronos widens his eyes slightly as glowing white cracks appear across his swords and they shatter apart, leaving only a little bit glowing bright red very close to his arm. Chronos looked at that for a moment and commented calmly "So it seems. This changes nothing, however." Riku grabbed his katana in both hands and slanted his eyebrows before preparing to continue the fight.

Back on Kairi's end, she has managed to seal five of Ballos' eyes, but even with her best efforts she can't break through the madman's main body. She rubs the front of her chin after taking a couple lasers to her body, spitting out to the right as she has her rapier gripped in one and her legs spread slightly. Ballos throws a couple of the deactivated rocks at Kairi, and she backflips out of the way as they crash into the ground and create some miniature craters. Ballos opens his mouth again and guffaws, with Kairi landing on the ground and immediately swinging her rapier forward to send a thin aura beam of light out to try and pierce Ballos through the back of his mouth.

But Ballos chomps down on the aura beam, allowing his teeth to block the rest of the attack while Kairi just look surprised, and then she was struck with a couple lasers down below thanks to the rocks Ballos sent underground. Kairi leaps back before they could do too much harm, but some of her armor was singed off in the process of escaping. Kairi widens her eyes and concentrates as hard as she could on her rapier, making sure the aura was fixated to a fine and sharp point. Ballos leaped up and prepared to crash down to create another shockwave, but Kairi sprints underneath Ballos to get behind him and then turns around the moment he lands.

Leaping off the ground, Kairi has timed things to perfectly that once Ballos turns around she is able to thrust her rapier repeatedly across the air, putting hundreds of sharp thrusts across the sky while her moved so fast that it was no longer visible. Ballos' remaining open eyes were all poked out thanks to this, since there was no spot Ballos could move them to in time. Kairi then flew over Ballos' head and thrust her rapier straight down to strike the top, creating a cross out from the tip of her blade and knocked Ballos right into the moon's surface.

Kairi then flies backwards and lands on the ground with a slight skid, but Ballos quickly pulled himself out of the ground along with all of his fallen eyes, and after a bit of shaking Ballos' body cracked apart, revealing a series of bloody skulls in his hollowed eyes and mouth. The eyes around his body cracked and opened and closed randomly while rapidly firing bursts of red energy. Kairi grasped her rapier tightly and thought to herself _"Just a little more and we can go after Lunis…"_ Her desire to get back to Mew before he got in trouble with Alex drove her to fight as well as she could against any foe in her, and Ballos would soon learn not to mess with one so determined.

Back with Riku, he has managed to break through Chronos' attacks and defenses enough to pierce him through the chest with his katana and drag him straight to the surface, pushing him across at least a hundred feet of ground before he ripped the katana out and leaped off the fallen Great Spirit's body. Chronos had a glowing scar deep within his chest, but he pulled himself out of the ground and floated in place for a couple seconds before remarking "I see that even with this extra power at my disposal, I still need a little more assistance to topple your kind."

Chronos swung his arms out, and Riku knew what was coming next. Chronos summoned a black mechanical heart behind himself and a series of energy made clocks formed in front of his body as Chronos pieced together a mechanical clock behind him out of giant gears and cogs. There were also a couple of extensions at the bottom of the clock that were curved like the swords that were slowly returning to Chronos' arms. The energy clocks broke away after some time ticking and turning, and Chronos' body looked as good as new. "Reversing time to heal yourself…A trick only a Great Spirit like you could perform." Riku commented.

Chronos stood in place calmly across the battlefield as the mechanical clock floated behind him, remarking in a docile tone "You're correct. And yet you still would continue to try and fight me anyways?" Riku clenches his katana tightly and remarks "Like I said, you don't really know how big the stakes are here. I can't lose, even if I have to break time itself." Chronos smiled a tiny bit before remarking "Then see how you manage against this…"

With a raising of his right hand, Chronos concentrates as glyphs of light circle around his kneecaps. Riku is braced to counter whatever move Chronos throws at him next, but the Great Spirit suddenly raised his arms to the sky and called forth four chains of light from the white ether, with all of them grabbing on to Riku's arms and legs and binding them in place faster than he could react. Riku focused on the chains immediately after recognizing their presence and tried to break them, but then Chronos warped right over to his location and was ready to perform his next attack.

Swinging his right blade out, Chronos cuts through time and space and Riku's armor to reach his chest and draw blood. Chronos then swung his other blade upward while keeping his position steady, but Riku swerved his head to the right and only had his left cheek struck by the edge of the blade. Chronos then released a small burst of energy as he thrust both of his palms forward to hit Riku in the face, followed by him swinging his right leg upward to cut through time and space along with going diagonally through Riku's armor and cutting loose the chains on his arms.

With that, Riku is able to quickly swing his katana at the two chains on his legs to cut them down, and then he slams his katana into the ground to summon forth a gigantic pillar of light in an attempt to consume Chronos within. But then Chronos swings his right hand out and grabs Riku's neck through the light, making him react with a nearly breathless gasp of shock as Chronos holds him up and remarks "This resistance ends now."

Riku took his katana and stabbed it into Chronos' chest, then summoned forth six blades of light that impale through different parts of Chronos' body. After Riku pulled his katana out Chronos lowered his eyelids slightly and then threw Riku forward by releasing a shockwave from his palm, swinging both of his hands in front of his body before remarking "And now our battle draws to a close!" He takes the numbers attached to his clock and gathers them in a circle between his palms, gathering a large amount of crimson energy before exclaiming "Chrono Erosion!"

He fires off a large laser beam five times the size of his body with streams of energy firing off from his fingers that wrap around the laser beam and bombard Riku the moment it strikes and suspends him in place. Riku is forced to endure the attack for a few good seconds until Chronos pulls his hands away from the center of his body, at which point the beam breaks apart and Riku is dropped to the ground on his knees, his angelic wings singed and his armor scuffed along with his skin.

As Riku was kneeling on the ground, Kairi had just finished off Ballos with a piercing stab of light through his mouth. Ballos blew up rapidly, but Kairi concentrated more on the mass of energy Chronos just fired off and noticed Riku had been knocked down. Chronos swung his arms out and commented "So you're still alive…Persistent doesn't even begin to describe you. I shall end this in a moment then." He then summoned forth the energy clocks in front of his body to reverse time on his body once more, and with her eyes widened Kairi prepared to run at the Great Spirit to stop him.

But Riku gripped his katana tightly and looked at Chronos, thinking to himself as time seemed to slow down a bit in his head _"I should have figured a Great Spirit powered by the Anti-Genesis Theorem wouldn't go down so easily…I didn't want to have to show this form so soon, but if I go all-out right away with it then it won't make much of a difference."_ Riku focused on the energies of light and darkness and buried himself in a cocoon of both elements. Kairi paused upon feeling the mixture of auras coming from Riku, but what happened next occurred so quickly that it was rather surprising to her.

Riku burst from the cocoon and charged right at Chronos as he was still reversing time. But a series of cuts of light and darkness appears across the front of the energy clocks as Riku emerges behind Chronos in his Chaos Form, with the black body armor and angelic and demonic wings being his most prominent features as usual. With his katana and fanged dagger held in front of his body, Riku slants his eyebrows slightly and the cuts he made slice apart the energy clocks and make them shatter all at once, with some large glowing cuts appearing in Chronos' body much to his surprise.

"W-What? To break my power…Without a chromatus?" Chronos remarks in surprise before turning around, only for Riku to get right in front of him with the katana and dagger crossed together, which he clamps closely while coating the weapons heavily in both elements to easily cleave Chronos' head from his shoulders. But being a Great Spirit, this isn't enough to kill him, and Chronos remarks as he head flies up "Y-You ca-"

Those were his last words, as Riku released the darkness and light from his weapons to created a gigantic explosion that is able to wipe out the remainder of Chronos' body. Riku stands upright as the wind of the explosion blows his wings in front of him and comments "I told you I would break time itself if necessary…But you're just one embodiment of time Chronos, nothing more, nothing less." Riku then returns to his normal form and lets out a relaxed breath, though his heart was feeling a slight bit heavy and in pain even after being healed earlier.

Riku lays a hand against his chest and stands still for a bit to calm down while Kairi runs up to him, deactivating her Angel Drive in the process. "W-What was that? I-I've never seen anything like that before…" Kairi commented in confusion, with Riku looking at her and commenting in a puzzled manner "My brother never used this form before?" Kairi shook her head, and this garnered some concern from Riku as he raised a hand to his chin and rubbed it while thinking _"Why not brother…? Surely you would have figured out the connection between the two elements…"_

Riku decided to stay on subject and explained to Kairi "It's called 'Chaos Form'. It's a perfect combination of Light and Darkness." Kairi commented in a fascinated tone while casually raising a pointer finger at him "You used that form to take Alex out of the sky when you first came back to the planet, didn't you? The auras feel very similar at least…" Riku nodded his head in response, and Kairi remarked "It's pretty powerful…I could tell you were stronger than my Angel Drive while you used it."

"I imagine if my brother had access to it, his Chaos Form would be even stronger than mine. I guess with that demon inside of him it's hard for him to figure out the balance necessary to manifest his own Chaos Form…" Riku theorized stoically, and after a momentary pause he pulled his hand away from his chin and looked at Kairi as she was in the middle of pondering something. "Kairi…Are you worried about my brother?" Riku inquired.

Kairi widened her eyes and said with a bit of an embarrassed grin she made "I'm pretty easy to read, aren't I?" Riku said in a somewhat humored tone "Heh, I wasn't trying to suggest that. It's just that if I'm worried about him, then it's natural for you to be worried as well. That's why it's important that we deal with Lunis as fast as we can so we can quickly catch up with him."

"I'd like to have faith that Mew won't die around Alex." Kairi commented a little bluntly, and Riku nodded his head and said "And I would as well…But Alex is dangerous and hard to figure out. It's difficult to trust him not to cause my brother any harm." Kairi nodded slowly a bit in agreement and let out a quiet, melancholic sigh a moment later.

After a few second pause, Riku looked towards the entrance of Lunis' palace and remarked "Lets go Kairi. Lunis is likely waiting for us now." Riku began to move forward without hesitation towards the entrance, and Kairi joined him a moment later while thinking to herself _"I want to trust your brother Mew…He genuinely seems like a good person…But until I confront him about what happened, I'm always going to have these doubts. I'll try not to be too rough with him, I promise…"_

 _Next Time: The Reflection in the Mirrors_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Two Sides of the Moon I: The Quiet Ninja**

The pearly gates of the Lunar Palace opens up at a slow pace, but they are so large that it doesn't take very long for enough of a gap to be opened up for Riku and Kairi to head on inside. Within the palace isn't as bright as it was on the outside, but it was very vast and empty. The white, sleek pillars sparkled and the floors were lined with pure platinum tiles. There were many hallways on the sides of the entrance room, but the only hallway that was important was the one at the very end of the room with the golden arch over it's doorway.

Once the two were inside the palace all the way, the gate slammed shut behind them, shaking the ground below their feet and making them turn back to see that they were stuck inside of this place…Likely until Lunis was defeated. "So there was a palace the moon the whole time…" Kairi commented as she turned back around, but Riku remarked quietly "I don't think that's the case. I imagine Lunis brought this palace here from another moon…Likely the one close to whatever planet the Elemental Overlord, Dark King and Auris lived on."

Riku then slowly began to walk towards the other side of the hallway with Kairi close beside him, and she commented while gesturing her right hand out "Don't you think this palace seems unnecessarily large? There's nothing inside of here but pearl walls and ivory pillars…" Riku stated in turn "It could be possible someone else used to live here before Lunis took the place over. Or maybe the large size is to accommodate for any possible visitors like other gods or goddesses…Just because Lunis and Solaris are High Deities doesn't mean that they don't speak to other deities lower than them."

Kairi paused for a moment and asked "Ok, fine…But now I have to ask, do you even know where to find Lunis in this palace? We don't have time to be searching around." Riku pointed forward at the golden arched doorway and said quickly "I have no doubts that we'll find Lunis through that door somewhere. I may not be able to sense him directly, but there's no mistaking the slight tremor of his fingers tapping against the arm of a throne chair."

Riku then continued moving on ahead after acknowledging Kairi's inquiry, and she followed behind while commenting "Are you ready to fight Lunis then? We didn't get to fight Solaris back there, so it's not we have direct experience combating one of these High Deities." Riku lowered his eyelids slightly and stood in place, swinging his right arm out to stop Kairi from going any further as some Vortexians began to spawn out of the ground close to the golden arched doorway.

The first set of Vortexians shared the same body-type as the Blacksmiths and the Laser Bladers, but they had silver foggy katanas held out from the ends of their arms. The edges of their body were dark grey, and they had blue foggy eyes. These Vortexian Samurais were joined by another set riding on glowing foggy yellow crescents meant to represent the moon, and the bodies of these Vortexians were shaped like feminine humans with some foggy green "cloths" wrapped around their bodies. These were Vortexian Lunar Sirens, and they had the ability to cast magic as they snapped their fingers and infused the blades of the Vortexian Samurais with a veil of silver light.

The Samurais pointed their blades at Riku and Kairi, and Riku drew his blade and focused on it to change into Light Form, remarking as he did so "I'm done wasting time on these Vortexians…Lets get through them quickly, and then I'll answer that question." Kairi switched into her Angel Drive form and nodded her head, and then the two charged at the Vortexians. Needless to say, it didn't take very long for them to cut them down with their blades, as the Anti-Genesis Theorem could only do so much against the raw strength the two possessed.

When the Vortexians were down for the count, Riku and Kairi returned back to normal and proceeded onward, with Riku commenting thusly "…The way I see it, I could tell a bit what Solaris' strength was. He hadn't yet used all of his power against Alex, but he was up to 50% when Lunis told him to stop. I imagine to keep a good balance between the two, Lunis and Solaris have nearly the same level of power. So we should be able to beat Lunis…But just to be safe, I'll start off in my Light Form. You know to use your Angel Drive in turn, right?" Kairi nodded her head in agreement of that plan, but then lowered her head slightly and appeared a bit melancholic.

Riku wasn't paying any attention to that as they got close to the golden arched doorway, and Kairi thought to herself _"…I need to get this over with before we fight Lunis. Can't fight well together if I'm holding something against Riku…"_ Kairi lifted her head up, swung her arms out and remarked "Riku, I want to get something off my chest first." Riku stopped close to the doorway and turned himself around in an instant, raising his eyebrows up slightly and putting on a curious expression.

Kairi widened her eyes and exclaimed angrily "I'm pissed off at you for attacking my mother! I don't know whether I should really trust you or not after that!" Riku flinched in surprise at Kairi's outburst, but deep down a part of him figured that this was going to happen eventually. Closing his eyelids and hanging his head slightly against his chest, Riku commented "I knew this was coming…And yet despite what you say, there's a part of you that wants to trust me, isn't there?"

Kairi exclaimed while clenching a fist close to her chest and leaning forward "Of course I do! You're Mew's brother…And unlike Alex, I can tell you're a nice person at the very least. So even after it was explained to me, I just can't fathom why you attacked my mother! And until I can truly get over this, I don't think we can work together to stop Lunis." Riku raised his head up and commented "I do admit I was a bit out of line attacking your mother so violently like that. If you want to take your anger out on me, I won't stop you. Punch me with all of your strength if you must."

Shaking her head slightly, Kairi commented "I already did that with your brother. I mean it's a start that you're willing to let me punch you and all…But I want something more. I-I'm just thinking there's something more to your reasons…Something you don't want to tell me." Kairi then glances at Riku and remarks "Or rather, something you don't want your brother to hear." Riku widened his eyes a bit and commented with a slight stutter as he rubbed the back of his head "…You know, you're a lot more perceptive than I've been giving you credit for Kairi."

"I've been trying to be ever since I learned that strength isn't everything. You got to have some wits too." Kairi commented with a bit of a smile on her face, and Riku looked at her confident face and commented "Well then my brother picked the right person to fall in love with…But that's what makes it difficult to tell you this. Promise you won't tell him what I'm about to tell you?" Riku sounded a bit embarrassed about what he was going to reveal, but Kairi just nodded her head immediately to show that the boy could trust her.

"Alright…You see, one of the main reasons I got so angry at Auris is because her actions put my brother's life at risk. It's really strange, honestly…I only knew my brother for barely a day, and yet I just feel this instinct inside of me to protect him with everything I've got. I don't want him to suffer at all, not from that demon inside of him, not from Alex's actions and words…Nothing. But I can't just tell him not to fight, that's not the type of person he is." Riku explained, and Kairi snapped her fingers and commented "It was around the time you were so adamant about stopping Mew from going after Alex that I figured it out, since you're bringing it up."

"I'm surprised you didn't put up more of a fuss, you've known him a little longer than I have from the sounds of things." Riku said afterwards, and after brushing the back of her head back a little Kairi smiled and said "I know. Mew's stubborn, a bit of a nut and he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut sometimes…But his heart is always in the right place. If he didn't speak up whenever he felt like it, he probably never would've been able to help me through my problems. It's why I can trust him to not succumb to Alex's whims, because that's not the type of person he is."

Riku then folded his arms together and opened his eyelids while asking "And what of the demon in his mind?" Kairi commented while clenching her fist tightly "Mew said…If somehow that demon takes full control of his body, that I am to use the Neo Drive to overpower them and kill Mew." Riku shook his head slightly and said in turn "I'm not going to let that happen. If that demon tries anything, I'll use my powers to purge him from my brother's mind without killing him."

Kairi nodded her head and said "Hehe…Same here. I refuse to believe that the demon can't be purged from Mew's mind." Riku extended his right hand out and asked of Kairi "Then that's what we'll do. We'll work together and protect my brother from harm…We'll all make it through this, and then we can spend time together in peace. And I'll try and make it up to both you and your mother for what I did earlier."

Kairi didn't hesitate to hold her hand out and shake on that, and she said to him a moment later after giving a bit of a wink "I'm holding you to that then Riku. But for now, I'm not going to let my feelings get in the way any longer. We'll stop Lunis together and make sure there's a planet to return to." Riku nodded his head and the two pulled their hands away from each other and looked to the door close to them, slanting their eyebrows as they drew their weapons and entered the room beyond the doorway.

Inside was a wide-open throne room, and now there was a long red carpet leading up to the barely raised throne at the very end. There were a few stained glass windows around the walls that were thin enough to show the depths of space outside, and the starlight mixed with the glass to create a rather beautiful composition of colors. On the throne itself, it was clear from the opposite end of the room that Lunis was sitting there, his arms laid down atop the arms of his chair and his right leg cross atop his left.

With an echoing voice, Lunis remarked to the two quietly "So you finally arrived…" Riku and Kairi sprinted across the red carpet and got a few feet away from the tiny staircase leading up to the throne, swinging their weapons and going into an offensive stance as Lunis lifted a hand up and leaned it against the side of his kabuki mask, commenting in a somewhat bored tone "For a moment, I thought you would've been distracted too long with each other to come and face me."

Riku quickly and bluntly remarked "You gave us plenty of time to work with Lunis. We still have roughly an hour until the Earth collides with the layer of ice you set up." Lunis remarked in an accusing tone "Are you saying that I purposely gave you time to spare? No, that's just how everything lined up." As Lunis tapped his fingers against the side of his mask, Riku widened his eyes a bit and could've sworn he heard a faint and nervous heartbeat coming from Lunis, which led to him commenting "Well forgive me if I don't believe you."

Lunis pulled his fingers away from his mask and quietly said "It's not a matter of whether you believe me or not." Lunis then lifted his body up slightly and pushed himself off of the throne, flipping himself a few times high up in the air before landing on his feet, kneeling down slightly and raising his right hand up behind his head before summoning a yellow crescent bladed dagger into his grasp. Once he stands upright he holds the dagger backhanded behind his body and raised a hand close to the front of his mask, remarking as he stood upright and leaned back slightly "It's a matter of our fight here today. Are you ready?"

"Drop the ice layer around the planet first. How can we trust you to not suddenly make the ice crush the Earth?" Kairi commented, and Lunis lowered her eyebrows through the mask angrily and said "I'm not someone swayed towards brutality and destruction like my brother unfortunately ended up as. I'm just going with what father wanted me to do. If you want to free your planet, you'll have to defeat me in battle, and I won't be holding back like my brother did against the Phoenix of Destruction."

"Before we fight, there's one last thing I want to ask you, Lunis." Riku commented, and with a brief sigh of annoyance Lunis commented while keeping his pose "Ask away then." Riku then lowered his arms to show a lack of aggression at the moment and inquired "Why did you let Rayquaza go like that? I'd think that all things considered, that wouldn't be something you'd do."

Lunis commented quickly "…Hmph, I'm not going to dignify that with a response. Anything else you wish to waste time speaking about…? After all, it's your world at stake here. I, on the other hand, have nothing to lose here by fighting you both." Riku raised his arm up and pointed his blade at Lunis, telling him bluntly as he once again swore to hearing the irregular heartbeat coming from his chest "Once more, I doubt your words. But you're right, we're both fighting for the planet we call our home…"

As Riku focused on his blade and went into Light Form, Kairi activated her Angel Drive and changed as well, and Riku exclaimed to Lunis "And we're not going to hold anything back!" Lunis raised his eyebrows slightly and then said bluntly "And yet you fight me in that form. Do you presume me to be that weak? Let us hope neither of you regret this decision…As I use this lunar kunai of mine to put an end to your resistance against my father."

Lunis leans forward slightly and holds his arms beside his body and then sprints forward, disappearing and reappeared in a millisecond between Riku and Kairi with his arms swung out in both directions. He turns himself around and has the inner part of his kunai pointed at Riku's neck ready to slice, but the kunai glows for a moment and another one appears in the grasp of Lunis' other hand ready to slice Kairi's neck from the back.

Riku quickly raised his katana to block the kunai, but the push from Lunis' swing came dangerously close to putting the blade to Riku's face. Kairi meanwhile sensed Lunis' movements and properly put a barrier of hard aura on the back of her neck to protect herself. Lunis pulled his arms inward and flipped backwards, throwing his kunai out of his hands and at his foes. Lunis then lands on the ground and whips his hands out quickly, creating two threads of silver light to grab the kunai by the handles and pulling them back into his grasp quickly.

Riku swings his sword forward and sends a wave of light at Lunis, who flips to the side to get out of the way as the energy travels up the staircase and slices through the throne. Kairi sprints forward and follows-up on Riku's efforts by brandishing her rapier out rapidly, but Lunis swings his arms out in front of him rapidly while in the middle of his flip to hit Kairi's attacks with both of his kunai, deflecting all but one blow which manages to slip by and slightly cut underneath the plate on Lunis' right shoulder.

Lunis lands on the ground and notes the trickle of blood for a moment before swinging his arms out rapidly in front of him, cutting the air with silver and golden sparkling slashes that are all blocked by Kairi's rapier. But then Lunis spins around and kicks forward past the right of the rapier's blade to hit Kairi in the chin and knock her back, but then Riku is given a chance to try and attack Lunis from behind by drawing his katana from his hilt and going in for a powerful slash.

With insane reaction times, Lunis stamps his foot on the ground and leans sideways towards Riku, swinging his kunai out in such a way that he flips the way he grips it and hooks Riku's katana from below, holding it in place while throwing the kunai in his other hand to the ground. He then swung his right foot up to grab the handle of the kunai out of mid-air between his toes and started to leap off of the ground with the other foot, using the curve in the kunai to hit Kairi's rapier as she tried to stab Lunis from behind.

The way Lunis attacked the blade sent a jolt through Kairi's hand that made her let go of her rapier and have it get thrown into the air. Lunis then continues on with the leap by pulling his other kunai away from Riku's katana and flying over his body, landing down quickly behind him as the boy swings himself around to prepare and match Lunis' next attack, all the while Riku was left thinking _"Lunis' much faster than Solaris…."_ Riku swings his katana outward, but Lunis crosses the two kunai and blocks the katana at the tip.

Then Lunis swings his arms in an arc until they were behind him, the two kunai flashing as he did so. It didn't take long for more kunai to appear along the arc Lunis swung his arms across, all of them spinning around and floating in the air bereft of gravity. Lunis then leaps back and commands all the kunai he just spawned to fly right at Riku in an attempt to attack him from all sides. Riku lets go of his katana and spins it around his body to try and deflect all the kunai, but a couple slip through and slice right through his armor to draw blood cleanly out of his skin.

But the kunai disappear after they make their pass at Riku, which only puzzled the boy for the time being. Kairi meanwhile has leapt into the air and grabbed her rapier, coating the blade in light aura before dropping straight down towards Lunis' current position. Lunis pulls himself back by skidding along the ground as Kairi slams the ground with her rapier and releases a series of light pillars around the edge of a circle of aura she creates below her feet. However, as Lunis was pulling himself back Riku ran through the side of Kairi's aura pillars and swung his katana to gather some of the light up into his blade.

He threw the light out into the form of an overwhelming wave of energy as he swung his katana out in front of his body. Lunis held his right arm firmly in front of his face and with a slight grunt created a barely visible an rectangular barrier in front of his body that takes on the energies Riku sent his way and absorbs them. When Riku has done launching his attack Lunis punches the barrier with the back of his right hand and sends the energy it absorbed straight out, now having converted it into a silver energy as pure as the surface of the moon.

Riku plunges through the energy and takes whatever damage on his wings and body necessary to allow him to get to Lunis, where he then stabs his katana into the barrier to shatter it and nick a cut into the right side of his mask as he leans out of the way. The very tip of the blade also got Lunis' cheek and drew blood, along with cutting away some of his hairs. Lunis then raised his right hand up and grabbed Riku's left one by the elbow, remarking as he stared him right in the face "Taking hits for the sake of hurting your opponent…Like I haven't seen that before. But there's a flaw in your plan…"

Riku suddenly felt a pain in his chest as a kunai blade poked out through the other side of his body. Shaking for a bit as the blade is pulled out of his body, Riku glances over his shoulder and sees another Lunis standing behind him with a bloody kunai in his right hand held close to his face. Before he can figure out what was going on here, Riku quickly swung his katana out beside himself and unleashed a massive burst of light, basically forcing both Lunis' to back off or take the hit.

Riku then spread his wings and backflipped over the second Lunis to land close to Kairi, who looked a bit surprised as she looked at both Lunis'. "I-I've heard about this technique before…" Kairi remarked as one of the Lunis' charged at her and leaped into the air, spinning around and performing a couple of kicks at Kairi's chest to force her to raise her rapier in defense, then this Lunis was thrown a kunai by the other to then swing straight down at Kairi's face, aiming close to her forehead. But the precision mattered little as Kairi created a shield of aura to deflect the kunai off of her head.

But Lunis swung his right hand out to grab the kunai and drop out of the sky, slamming the kunai against the ground and unleashing a brief bolt of silver energy that strikes Kairi's right arm and paralyzes it, making her drop her rapier once more. The other Lunis sprints across the ground and casually swings his right arm out to grab the rapier, positioning himself behind Kairi and thrusting the rapier forward to try and stab Kairi in the back of her body, all of this happening in the span of three seconds. Riku is able to react to all this and get his katana in the path of the rapier just in time by throwing it out of his hand, then he covers Kairi by going to the Lunis behind her and punching him across his left cheek with a light-infused punch from his gauntlet.

This forced Lunis to let go of the rapier, and as it spins around Kairi swings her arm behind her and grabs onto it, followed by holding it in front of her and swinging it upward to make a pillar of light aura erupt on the Lunis in front of her. Lunis leaps out of the pillar but suffers some slight damage to his armor, and after sliding back a little bit Lunis swings his arms out and flips the kunais in his fingers. The other Lunis recovers from the punch and draws two kunais of his own, spinning them around between his fingers while Riku and Kairi faced each Lunis down, with Riku standing with his left side pointed at Kairi's back.

Kairi bluntly remarks to Lunis "Hey! What's going on here? How are you able to use one of the higher level Aurian Bodily-Style techniques…?!" Riku widened his eyes slightly and glanced at Kairi for a moment before remarking "Wait, this is an Aurian technique?" Lunis paused for a moment and commented "Of course the scion of my dear old friend would recognize this technique."

Insulted by those words, Kairi growled a little and exclaimed suddenly "You don't get to call my mom your friend!" Lunis paused for a moment more and glanced to the side, remarking in a somewhat melancholic tone "You're probably right, I made the conscious decision to help father back then and deserved to be sealed up in that cage alongside my brother. I can never expect Lady Auris to forgive me."

Lunis then looked at Kairi and said while raising a kunai towards her "Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to reach father…So if that means killing you, then so be it. It's not as though I am not used to marking my blades with blood." Riku felt another irregular heartbeat from Lunis as she spoke, but Kairi took the lead in the conversation before him as she gripped her rapier tightly and commented "Yeah, I can see how you can say that…I read about this in history books. Long ago, there used to be a section of Aurians who created their own ninjutsus. They were a heavy inspiration for the Bodily-Style of aura combat…"

Kairi glanced at the second Lunis and remarked "And their greatest technique was the ability to take one's own aura and create a perfect copy of themselves. The copy can interact with the physical world perfectly, mimicking the original's voice down to the pitch and tone, and carrying the same strength as the original. The one flaw though is that it takes a lot of mental strength to create clones, but I guess a High Deity wouldn't have such a restriction, would they?" Kairi confidently smirked as she nonchalantly said that last part.

Lunis comments afterwards "Of course. Where as a regular Aurian can create about two clones, I can create eight, one for every phase of the moon." Riku finally comments on this revelation by mentioning "So the Aurians trained you in their arts?" Lunis explained "Nothing like that…I only learned the body copying technique and a couple more minor techniques that you've already seen me use."

"That being the ability to create multiple weapons from aura and reflecting energy attacks back at others…" Riku commented quickly, and Lunis spun a kunai around in his right hand and remarked "Then we don't need to speak anymore if you've figured that out. But that doesn't mean all of my tricks are out in the open…" Lunis gripped the handle of both kunais tightly and sprinted forward at Kairi, commanding the other Lunis to go after Riku at the same time.

Riku flew forward, kicking up off the ground and attacking the Lunis in front of him with a couple punches, since at the moment he had no idea how to counter these perfect copies. This Lunis took the punches and skipped back along the ground, throwing the kunais in his hands while commenting "Riku, is it? Why do you hesitate to use that other form of yours…The one you just used to slay Chronos?" Riku swung his arms out to deflect the kunai away with from his body and then slanted his eyebrows, commenting quickly "You're not using your full power either. Why are YOU hesitating?"

Riku sprinted forward and tried to throw an uppercut into Lunis' chin, but he pulled back on his head and then took two kunais between his fingers and clawed at the side of Riku's body, once again ripping through his armor and drawing blood from his skin. Riku swung his arm down to cover the scars and pulled back a little as Lunis stated "I'm not hesitating." Lunis makes two more kunais in his other hand and swings all four down like claws, but Riku swings his katana horizontally in front of his face to make the kunai hook around his blade while keeping a calm expression and remarking "I may not be able to sense your energy that well, but there's no mistaking the sound of your heartbeat. Considering what Kairi said, the stress on your heart should have nothing to do with creating these clones."

Lunis pulled his kunai away from the katana and backflipped out of the way, giving Riku a moment to think to himself _"The clones must be able to speak via Lunis projecting his thoughts to them…What else can I figure out about them?"_ Riku quickly glanced over his shoulder and saw Kairi successfully fending off Lunis' multiple kunais by using precisely placed aura blocks, but then he looked back on ahead as the other Lunis landed on the ground.

Riku moved his katana in front of his body and slowly began to sidestep to the left, and with his eyebrows raised as this Lunis cautiously spun the kunais around his fingers without cutting them Riku thought to himself _"If the clones share the same strength as their original…? Then I'd only know if I hurt the real Lunis if the clones lost some of their strength as well. I need to test this real quick…"_ Riku suddenly swings his right hand out and sends a wave of energy at Lunis, who creates a reflective barrier with a swing of his arms in front of his body.

The energy is absorbed into the barrier, but Riku quickly gets behind Lunis while he was distracted with the barrier and uses the katana not for a lethal attack, but to simply nick Lunis across the side of his body. A light scar is put on this Lunis' skin, but Lunis quickly turns around along with putting the barrier in front of him and releases the energy onto Riku before he can get out of the way. Riku is knocked back with some silver smoke coming out of his body, but he grins a little as he glances to the left and sees that Kairi has got Lunis in a position where he can see that there isn't a scar on that Lunis' body.

Riku then decides to quickly throw the katana into his other hand and swing it outward to send a wave of light at the other Lunis, even though it gives the Lunis he was fighting a chance to run forward and cut through the front of his chest plate with his kunais. The Lunis Kairi is fighting swinging his left hand out to create a barrier to absorb Riku's attack, but then Kairi is able to rapidly thrust her rapier out, forcing Lunis to create two interconnecting kunais in order to have a weapon long enough to block Kairi's attacks.

But then Kairi slips through the defense Lunis set up and manages to get one cut across Lunis' right elbow. From Riku's perspective, he watches as that very same cut appears across the elbow of the Lunis he was fighting, and he comments calmly as both Lunis' widen their eyes in surprise "So I was right." The Lunis Kairi is fighting quickly fires the energy out from the barrier, and the other Lunis leaps back and creates a barrier that absorbs the energy and increases it's strength even more before he turns the barrier and fires it off at Riku in the form of a towering wave of silver energy.

Riku swings his angelic wings out and after coating his blade with all the light he could muster he swings the katana upward and cuts through the silver energy. Riku then exclaimed "Kairi! You might want to get out of the way!" as he focused on the katana with both the energies of light and darkness inside of him flowing into the weapon. He then turned to Lunis as Kairi widened her eyes and quickly leaped back, followed by Riku sprinting forward as the cocoon of both elements wrapped around his body.

Lunis tried to raise a series of interconnected kunais to protect himself, but Riku was too fast for Lunis to react to now and he quickly breaks out of the cocoon in his Chaos Form with his left fist raised up. Riku grit his teeth and threw out a mighty punch coated in a spiraling aura of both elements, but instead of targeting the kunai to break through his defenses Riku instead struck Lunis' mask with everything he's got. The moment the attack connected, a series of black and white sparks erupted out from Riku's knuckles, simultaneously sending a shockwave out across the room that Kairi just had enough time to brace herself against.

Riku's attack manages to quickly crack Lunis' mask and knock him back a good twenty feet, the only reason Lunis had enough strength to land on his feet afterwards being that his mask held back most of the power from Riku's punch. Lunis' heart started beating faster after that as Riku noted, and as smoke sizzled out of Riku's fist he slowly began to stand upright and remarked "Looks like you weren't expecting me to figure that out."

Lunis' mask was so cracked that it couldn't keep itself together and started to crumble apart, and Lunis widened his eyes and in a panic raised a hand to the mask and tried to keep it from falling off. "No no no…!" Lunis remarked, but something seemed off about his voice at this point. He didn't sound anything like he did before, being higher in pitch than it was before. Lunis' efforts couldn't stop the mask from coming apart and falling down around the sides of his hand, leaving only the hand to hide the face at this point.

Lunis' hand slightly trembled for a couple seconds before clenching into a fist that covered the eyes and lips until he decided to pull it away from his face, and immediately upon doing so Riku and Kairi widened their eyes and found they would have to change the way they referred to Lunis from here on out…As behind that mask hid not the face of a man, but that of a woman with silver irises and a noticeable blush in her cheeks. Lunis looked rather pissed off at Riku after this, and in a calm but slightly deep feminine voice she remarked with an irritated gritting of her teeth "U-Unbelievable…That you would rob me of my mask like this…You have no idea how humiliating it is for you to have done this to me, Elemental Overlord Riku."

 _Next Time: Can't Be Myself_


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: The Lunar Reflection II: The Secretive Goddess**

With Lunis' true gender having been ousted, Riku and Kairi were left looking rather dumbfounded by this turn of events. With a wide-eyed stare, Kairi glanced over at Riku and noticed the blank surprise on his face before remarking "R-Riku…I'm not seeing things, right? Lunis was a girl this entire time?" Riku shook his head slightly and with a slight clenching of his teeth he said "Y-Yes…It seems our god was a goddess this whole time. The mask she wore must have had a voice filter that made her sound like a man…I can't believe I didn't realize that sooner…"

Kairi remarked bluntly "What? What do you mean you didn't realize this sooner? Then why did you break her mask off?!" Riku embarrassingly pointed out "I was trying to get rid of one of her defenses, I-I honestly had no idea that-" "Did you not just hear me?!" Lunis suddenly exclaimed in a rather flustered tone, making her two opponents direct their attention towards her.

Lunis was blushing even more than before, trying her hardest to keep her composure as she swung the kunai in her right hand up at Riku and stated "I honestly can't believe you did this…And you have the gall to say it was by complete accident?!" Riku stood upright and folded his arms together, remarking to Lunis while reeling a bit from the surprise "C-Calm down here Lunis…Neither of us even know what's going on."

Lunis raised her eyebrows and fumed furiously through her nostrils a couple of times before exclaiming "And that makes it any better?!" She then swings her kunai out beside her hip and said with a scowl on her face "Not only did you humiliate me…But father…" Lunis quickly widened her eyes and shook her head while silencing herself, punching the left side of her face while Riku and Kairi looked on in bewilderment.

"I-I don't have anything to say to you both! This doesn't change anything!" Lunis promptly exclaimed, and Riku shook his head slightly and commented "No, I think it changes a lot. That irregular heartbeat I was hearing…It was worry that we'd find out your true gender, wasn't it? But why-" "NO! This has nothing to do with my gender! You don't understand anything, so why are you even going to bother trying to guess?!" Lunis exclaimed while shaking her head some more in anger.

Riku raised his eyebrows and then remarked in a meticulous manner "Then the only other explanation is that you actually don't want anything to do with this whole affair." Lunis stared Riku straight in the eyes and remarked angrily "How dare yo-" Riku didn't stop there though, as he quickly pointed out to Lunis "It just doesn't add up. The extensive time limit to save the planet, allowing Rayquaza to return home, the lack of Vortexians getting in our way, the fact that you aren't using all of your power. If you'd truly want to defeat us, then why give us all these chances to stop you?"

Lunis paused for a moment and tried her hardest not to scowl at Riku for what he was accusing her of, right until the point where he said to her "The way I see it…You don't want to do any of this." "ENOUGH!" Lunis exclaimed with a bit of tearfulness in her voice, and after a couple seconds she pants a little and then swings her right arm out before remarking "Stop trying to figure this out! I'm not some puzzle you can solve, I'm not some broken bird you can fix up and set free! I'm perfectly fine just doing everything I can to make sure father is happy!"

Riku stood still for a few seconds and then held his arms out beside his hips, remarking to Lunis "You shouldn't have to suffer to make your father happy. That's just not right. You don't have to list-" Lunis let out an incredibly frustrated cry before she held her hands against the side of her head and said "Why won't you just shut up already?!" She started to sound broken up, and Riku commented to her after a momentary pause again "Because the children should never have to pay for the sins of their parents."

Kairi could relate to that problem somewhat, but Lunis just swung her arms out away from her head and commented harshly "T-That's not what's going on here! I-I wish father didn't have to do any of this, that there were some other way…But if he wants to do this, then I want to help him however I can. I-I just want father to be pr-" Lunis glared at Riku for a moment and snapped out of her sudden melancholy, realizing that she was revealing more information than she wanted. Riku said to her "So there IS a part of you that doesn't want to be a part of this…"

Lunis blushed a little and swung her arms out before remarking "Yes, fine! I admit it! Are. You. HAPPY?!" Her frustration had reached a peak, and she swung her kunais out in front of her body to show that she just wanted to continue on with the battle. But Riku just had one last thing to say to her "Fine, I won't bother you with anymore questions. If you have your reasons for hiding your gender, if there's more to this than I'm getting, then fine…All that matters is that a part of you doesn't want to be a part of this, and I refuse to kill or even fight you when you're a victim of your father's machinations."

And just like that, Riku surprises both Kairi and Lunis by dropping back to his most basic form, and with a gesture of his left hand towards Kairi he remarked "Kairi will finish this fight and free the planet from the ice you put around it. Unless you suddenly want to put everything you've got into this fight, in which case I will rejoin." Lunis widened her eyes and said "H-How dare you?! Return to that form you had and fight me! I will not accept your resignation from this battle after all you said!"

Lunis then leaped off the ground and flew towards Riku, but before she can take her kunais to his body Kairi suddenly glided in-between the two and used her rapier to block Lunis' attacks, some shockwaves of light coming off from the center of the weapons as Lunis lands on the ground and exclaims while staring Kairi in the eyes "Out of my way scion of Lady Auris!" Kairi firmed her expression while holding Lunis back with an even amount of strength and said while glancing slightly back at Riku "You know, I think you're being a bit ridiculous here, but I DO get what you're saying Riku…I'll finish this fight just this one time."

"I'd appreciate it Kairi." Riku commented in an appreciative tone, and Lunis remarked while pressing her kunais against Kairi's rapier to try and break it "What makes you think that I will allow this?!" Kairi bluntly exclaimed "I invoke the Rite of Singularity! Now you have no choice but to allow this, Lunis."

Lunis grit her teeth a bit and then exclaimed "Fine!" before leaping backwards, performing a couple swift flips before landing on the ground and skidding back a few feet. Lunis then throws her kunais to the ground and reaches for her shoulder plates, throwing them right off her body while remarking "But if my gender has been ousted, then I have no reason to hold myself back." The armored plates hit the ground with enough force to shake the room and crack the floor, and Lunis quickly moves for the armored plates and pants around her waist.

Slipping her sleek silver pantyhose covered legs out of the pants one after the other, Lunis then throws the pants behind her, where it hits the ground and the weight of the armored plates shakes the room further. The toes of her pantyhose are cut off, with gold rings wrapped around them instead to keep the pantyhose in place down there. Lunis then reaches for the straps around her chest and uses one of her fingernails to cut them off, grabbing them from the other side to pull them out, which then causes her surprisingly large chest to push forward to curve the top of her front armor plate. Lunis then takes her long mullet hair and with some assistance from supposedly her own magic along with the straps she turns it into a long and radiant ponytail.

Lunis then picks her kunais up with magic and cross her arms to pluck them from the air, before leaning forward and swinging her arms out beside her hips, remarking now that she was finally ready "I haven't fought like this in quite some time…But I will defeat you scion of Lady Auris, and then you're next, Riku…" Lunis glared firmly at Riku, who was slowly starting to back off to avoid accidentally getting in the way of the battle. Kairi grasped her rapier's handle tightly and with her aura flaring up behind her in the form of small angelic wings she remarked "Lets go then!"

"Gladly!" Lunis exclaimed before zipping right across the battlefield in a second to get close to Kairi with her right leg already raised for a kick. Kairi leaped back and created an aura shield to take the impact of the kick, but Lunis quickly put her foot on the ground and jumped at the shield while swinging both of her kunais out in an instant to slash the shield ten times, creating silver cuts that rip apart the barrier as Lunis manages to then fly around Kairi and bring both of her kunais down towards her back.

Only the breaking of her shield gave Kairi enough awareness to put up another barrier behind her as she takes the time to turn around and get a lock on Lunis' location. Lunis slams the edge of her kunais against Kairi's barrier and only barely punctures through, but by that time Kairi has already flown a few inches back and thrown out a few waves of light aura from by swinging her rapier, all of which flow through the barrier and strike the front of Lunis' body, though she manages to hold up her kunais to absorb most of the attack before they connected.

Lunis then swung her arms forward and threw the kunais at Kairi, who created another barrier to protect herself only for Lunis to see through the defense and quickly speed forward while grabbing the kunais mid-flight and swinging them both at the barrier while starting to turn herself around. This results in the barrier shattering from the force applied to them while Lunis was now once again behind Kairi with her arms close to her chest and her ponytail swung out in front of her as it had to catch up with the speed she was moving at.

Lunis then rapidly swings her arms at Kairi's general direction while throwing kunais out, copying them with the technique she learned so she could have a swarm of them flying out. A couple manage to cut into Kairi's armor before she is able to turn around and swing her rapier out diagonally as hard as she could to blow away the other kunais with an overwhelming tidal wave of light aura. Lunis leaps through the aura while using one of her reflective barriers to absorb some of the energy, firing it out in a single burst of silver energy that hits Kairi and blows her down to the ground diagonally.

Kairi lands and skids back, but then Lunis speeds right behind her with three kunais connected together in her right hand. With her right leg stretched back Lunis skids sideways along the ground and then swings her right arm forward to try and lash the side of Kairi's arm with her kunais. Kairi tries to turn around and position her body so the kunais would hit the side of her breastplate, but Lunis quickly swings her left arm forward with a duplicate kunai already in her grasp and manages to swing it just quickly enough to put a vertical cut into the upper part of Kairi's right arm.

Kairi then tries to fly back, but Lunis uses her interconnected kunais to hook onto the edge of Kairi's breastplate and quickly tug her right back over before she could get even a few feet away. This is followed up by Lunis standing upright and flipping backwards, using both of her feet to kick Kairi into the air by striking her chin, then using her hands to launch herself upward after Kairi and quickly rising above her. With two kunais drawn, Lunis coats them in silver energy and positions herself slightly forward to be directly above Kairi before diving straight down with arms crossed under her chin.

"Fatal Dive!" Lunis exclaimed before she pushed her feet off against the air and lunged at Kairi's body, and the way the kunais were aimed the attack would manage to harm Kairi greatly if it connected. But with a second left, Kairi covered the front of her body in a thick layer of aura, which only caused her to be pushed back first towards the ground by Lunis' attack. Though the resulting collision with the ground did jerk Kairi's head back a little, she managed to avoid being critically damage.

Lunis flipped right off of Kairi's aura shield and landed on the ground, swinging her right hand behind her head before remarking with a bit of fondness in her voice "You're definitely Lady Auris' daughter…" Lunis then exclaimed "But that just means I know not to take you lightly!" Lunis slams the kunai into the ground and sends a bolt of silver energy across the ground, tearing it apart as it heads towards Kairi. While hunched over, Lunis then creates two clones and sends them sprinting forward alongside the bolt with a kunai held in the arm furthest away from the bolt. Kairi created a dome of aura around her body as she lifted herself off the ground, but the two clones slid towards her and swung their kunais out in a quick and powerful arch to slice right through the barrier before ending diagonally away from her.

Lunis dispels the clones as the bolt closes in on Kairi, who raised her rapier and coated it with aura to try and protect herself. But Lunis just sprints behind her and swings two connected kunais together to rip through the back of the breastplate and nearly draw blood from the back of her body. Kairi flinched in shock but kept her focus clear enough to hold back the bolt of energy before it could overwhelm her. Kairi then turned around and tried to slice Lunis with a sharp circle of aura around her body extending out from her rapier's tip.

Lunis naturally leaped back a few feet along the ground to get out of the way, crouching down and swinging her arms in front of her chest and copying a kunai in-between each of her fingers before standing completely erect and throwing the kunais out into the air above her, where they spin around before being coated in silver energy and bolting straight towards Kairi. Kairi grasps her rapier and charges at Lunis, thinking to herself as she swings at the kunais to knock them away _"She's fast, so I have to go even faster than before! …I hope my body can handle it…"_

Kairi pushes her body forward, her speed kicking up in a burst much to Lunis' surprise as Kairi gets right next to her the moment she tries to backflip and actually cuts the front of her legs with a swift swing of her rapier. The tip is all that connects though, and thus the blood that leaks out from the legs is minimal. Lunis immediately calls up a clone to act for her on the ground while another clone grabs Lunis by the arms and while levitating in mid-air starts spinning around to build up momentum.

The clone on the ground runs at Kairi and slides forward with a few interconnected kunais grasped in it's right hand, swinging it out like a whip to try and hit Kairi, but she's able to swing her body around to avoid a lot of the attacks before quickly swinging her rapier upward and dislodging the kunais from the clone's hand. But they just copy three more kunais between the fingers in their other hand and swinging it upward towards Kairi's face, but with a swing of her head downward she's able to get out of the way and lose only a couple of hairs in the process.

But by this point the clone got what it wanted and disappeared, as the clone in mid-air threw the real Lunis straight towards Kairi with her feet extended outward and silver energy coating around her body. Kairi leaps back and Lunis strikes the ground with all her might, sending out a shockwave of silver energy across the ground along with a massive pillar around her. The room shakes for a few seconds and throws Kairi off as she lands, and Lunis is able to take advantage of this to run up to Kairi and kick her in the chin to launch her into the air.

Lunis then stamps her foot into the ground and swings her hands around at light speed to fling kunais up at Kairi, filling the air with silver streaks as the weapons come dangerously close to piercing her body before she summons a massive sphere of aura around herself for protection's sake. Lunis summons a clone while focusing on flinging the kunai copies, and the clone gets behind Kairi's shield on the ground and starts throwing kunais as well to try and break through it.

The kunais build up on Kairi's shield rapidly and start to make large cracks form across it as well, but behind the shield Kairi floated in place and smiled before snapping her left fingers, where the thickness of her shield allowed no sound of that to slip through. The shield then shattered and sent all the kunai back at both Lunis and her clone, forcing the real Lunis to put up a reflective shield to make the kunai drop to the ground quickly.

But Kairi burst down towards the real Lunis while holding her rapier forward, and she manages to pierce through the barrier and deliver a good sized cut to Lunis' left arm, drawing a good amount of blood from it as she lands on the ground behind Lunis. Lunis swings herself around and returns the favor by throwing a kunai out that cuts across the side of Kairi's right arm and draws an equal amount of blood. Lunis pauses for a moment as the blood leaks down the side of her arm, but then she takes one of the strips of paper hanging down her arm and pats it down against it, and with a bit of magic she manages to hold the paper to the wound and prevent further bleeding.

Lunis then smirked at Kairi for a brief moment as she thought to herself _"Oh so that's what those are for…"_ Lunis then got directly in front of Kairi and with a kunai held backwards in each hand she swings her hands out to try and hit Kairi with her rapid movements, but Kairi just dodged them all by swinging her body around. Lunis dealt with this problem by leaping up and targeting the center of Kairi's movements with a well-timed knee to the gut, which winds Kairi and pushes her back along the ground.

As this battle was unfolding, Riku stood far away against one of the walls and whispered to himself while folding his arms together "Kairi's really pushing her body to keep up with Lunis' speed…I can't believe Lunis is still holding back and is this fast. But the weakness of any speedster is their lacking defenses, which Lunis tries to compensate for with the clones and the reflecting shields. For all her confliction and doubts…Lunis is a pretty clever fighter."

Lunis follows up on her last attack by landing on the ground and slamming a kunai against the ground to create a bolt of silver energy that goes to Kairi and knocks her up, and Lunis quickly creates four clones that dive at Kairi from four sides of her body diagonally and slice at her body with the kunais in their hands. Some cuts of blood are drawn from Kairi's body all across, but Kairi quickly spins around to steady herself before the clones could leap up for another attack and with a swing of her left hand she sends out an explosion of light aura that blows away the clones and knocks them to the ground.

Lunis dispels the clones and Kairi exclaims "Now it's my turn!" She then throws her rapier to the ground and creates a burst of light from the impact that knocks Lunis into the air before she can get out of the way, and Kairi quickly dives down, swipes her rapier up and rapidly thrusts it forward in one hand to assault Lunis with a series of bright thrusts. Though multiple thrusts are shown, Kairi seems to have pushed her arm up once, and then she thrusts her arm up again and hits Lunis with a really strong beam of pure aura.

A shockwave bursts across the ground as the aura repeatedly hits Lunis' body until she is able to compose herself from the earlier assault in order to break out of the beam and land on the ground underneath it, where she quickly throws out a kunai to cut across Kairi's right leg, which throws off her balance enough due to a particular muscle being cut slightly. Kairi wobbles to the right and throws a hand to the ground to keep herself up, and then Lunis runs at her ready to attack with more of her kunais.

Kairi raised her rapier in front of her face and quickly concentrated as hard as she could to create a bright white seal filled with runes and a singular kanji in the form of a half-formed dome of aura. Lunis connects her attack with the barrier and widens her eyes as Kairi exclaimed "Fragrance's Riposte: Luminous!" The seal then shatters and the energy fires off at Lunis, followed by time freezing entirely for all but Kairi, who got up off the ground while holding back the pain in her leg. The energy from the seal wraps around Lunis and holds her in place while Kairi holds her katana's handle in front of her face and points it at her opponent.

Stepping back a bit, Kairi then swings her rapier out multiple times out back and forth, lashing through the spheres of aura with a sharp shining whip of energy extending out from the tip of the rapier. Once Kairi was done swinging at the sphere she pulls back on her rapier and delivers on hard thrust forward at the center of it, piercing straight through it and shattering the sphere. But then as time returned to normal it's revealed that in the split seconds Lunis had before it stopped she created all eight clones she possibly could within the energy sent her way to protect herself.

The clones were shredded apart and forced to disperse from the amount of damage they took, and Lunis herself floated, curled up slightly in the middle of all those clones with a few cuts across her body and a clear but small puncture wound through her left shoulder, though she appeared to be a tiny bit frightened, likely because of how close she was to getting shredded by the blade. Lunis commented with a forced grin on her face as she unfurled herself into a standing pose in mid-air "You think I wouldn't recognize Gabriel's technique?"

Kairi swung her rapier out beside her as the weakness in her leg got to her again, forcing her to lift up off the ground to avoid being taken advantage of. As she levitated in place as level with Lunis as she could be Kairi remarks "I really should've known better considering you know mom." Lunis nods her head slightly and then swings her right arm up and out beside her body, and with her kunai grasped in hand she brightens it with silver energy around the blade and remarked "But I can't lose to either of you! I will make father proud!"

Lunis speeds forward and swings her kunai and body around twice to try and hit Kairi with her attacks, but she quickly gets her barrier up to protect herself. Lunis then turns around and throws her kunai out at the hole in the back of Kairi's barrier, striking her in the back and releasing the energy contained within in an explosion that sent Kairi flying to the ground. Lunis then continued flying back and then dropping to the ground while flipping back a couple times, kneeling down as Kairi lands on the ground in front of her from the explosion.

Kairi slowly pushes herself off the ground with the help of her rapier and looks over as Lunis swings her right arm out again and proclaims "This ends now!" and then creates eight clones of herself, the most she could manage at once, and while she winces slightly from focusing on all these clones she is able to make them leap hi into the air one after the air close to where Kairi is positioned. The clones divebomb out of the sky with a kunai in their right hand, and Kairi has to keep leaping back to get out of the way.

Each clone strikes the ground and creates a bolt of silver energy followed by a small shockwave outward, but none of them ever hit their target. But once Kairi was done escaping all the clones leap into the air all at once while the real Lunis takes the lead and runs around Kairi, rapidly throwing kunais out while Kairi swings her body around and releases circles of aura to hold the kunais back no matter how many are tossed her way, sparks flying out from the edge of the kunai as they collide with the aura.

But Lunis then leaps away from Kairi and draws out two of her kunais before her eight clones drop out of the sky and land on the ground with the gold rings on their toes releasing a ring of golden lunar energy in the form of a gigantic ring around their locations, and then they stab two kunais each into the ground in front of them, making sure the streams of silver energy spread out and connect between all of the clones with Kairi caught in the center of them all.

Kairi turned around to the real Lunis and prepared to leap, but the silver energy quickly extended out from the center of the intertwining streams and crawled up Kairi's legs like a net, making her muscles tingle as she's held in place. Lunis swung her arms in front of her for a moment before proclaiming "The time for victory's bell to toll has come!" Lunis swings her arms out and creates a pair of angelic wings spreading out behind her back with a combination of silver and gold energy, and as Lunis flies forward with the wings flapping once as they break apart she exclaims "I shall purge you with the glorious radiance of the moon itself!"

Lunis flies right past the worried Kairi while swinging her kunais out in very wide arcs, and upon reaching the other side of the seal the clones vanish as Lunis proclaims "SANCTUM OF PURGING SILVER!" A cross-shaped eruption of silver energy goes off right on top of Kairi, with the energy radiating with some bits of gold mixed within it as it lashes about for a few good seconds. Lunis swung her arms out as she stood up, and as she turned around and looked at the bright light she said in a quiet, melancholic tone "Lady Auris…I-I'm sorry I had to do this to your daughter…"

"I-I'm not through yet!" Kairi's voice suddenly calls out to Lunis through the roaring silver energy as it fades out. From the center of the silver energy a radiant, feathery blade of light aura cuts through it from the bottom towards the center as Kairi flies right out of it, revealing that she had put a bit of aura around her body to protect herself right as the attack struck, and though she had taken quite a number of damage with her hair ruffled immensely and her armor torn apart she still had enough energy to create that massive feathery blade out from her rapier.

Lunis widens her eyes and then braces herself as Kairi spins herself around to guide the blade towards Lunis' body. As the blade was kept to a concise form, there would be no way to reflect it, and with the strain it took to keep the eight clones up for so long Lunis was in no condition to create another clone to help defend against this attack. All Lunis had to rely on at this moment was her speed, but she was hesitating to move as she looked up at Kairi's fierce and determined expression.

For a moment, Lunis looked back in time and remembered Auris with that very same expression, and with that memory Lunis' pause becomes prolonged as she thinks to herself _"I-I really can't do this…Can I? Father…Brother…I'm so, so sorry…"_ As the feathery blade of Kairi's wipes over her, Lunis bit her lower lip slightly and looked a bit saddened to not have it in her to put her all into this battle…And she hated that Riku was right about her. The moment Kairi's blade connects, she pushes all the energy out and created a glistening explosion of bright white aura that consumed Lunis entirely.

Lunis is launched back after the explosion has done it's job, her bodily greatly singed from the sheer energy that impacted her to the pointed her pantyhose tore up from feet to hips, and the straps of paper on her arms were nearly burned up along with the paper that was keeping her ponytail together, causing her hair to become an overabundant mess once more. Lunis loses the grip on her kunais and could only barely maintain consciousness.

Kairi holds her rapier out in front of her body a little and pants before choosing to drop to the ground and slowly walk over to Lunis' location in order to finish the job. As Kairi raised her rapier to prepare the final slash, Riku suddenly ran over and swung his left hand out in front of Kairi's face to grab her attention, and she turned to look at him with a weak but puzzled expression before Riku shook his head and commented "There's no need to kill her. We've won, the planet is safe now."

Lunis slowly began to lift her head up off the ground and grit her teeth, looking just as confused as Kairi was as her body shook from the pain in combination with her using her elbows to support herself. Kairi commented to Riku "You know…I get that you're being empathetic and all, but she's still our enemy. How can you say it's a good idea to keep her alive?" Riku stated quietly while looking Kairi straight in the eyes "She's not like her brother. She's not actively seeking to destroy things…She's just following her father's wishes. In that sense, she's a victim. Could you really bring yourself to kill a victim?"

Kairi thought about that for a moment, and after recalling the moment she nearly killed Aurian Venus she turned her head to look at Lunis and then remarked "N-No…You're right. I can't do it." Kairi lowers her rapier as Riku moved his hand away, and then the two of them watch as Lunis tries to push herself back onto her feet with a frustrated look in her eyes. The best she can manage is to get onto her knees though before the pain proves to be too much. She glares Riku right in the eyes and tells him with a blunt but quiet anger in her voice "Y-You'd show me…Mercy?"

Lunis punches her fist against the ground and with her teeth clenched slightly she widens her eyes and exclaims as best as she could "This is a goddamn war! You don't show mercy to your enemies! What is your goddamn problem?!" Riku just stood there and took what Lunis had to say while feeling a good degree of guilt inside of him. Lunis then went on to state while looking particular bitter as she raised a hand to the top of her chest "Is it because you find me beautiful? Are you taking mercy on me because you're attracted to me?! Is your sympathy just an attempt to turn me to your side out of love?! I don't understand you at all you…you bastard!"

Lunis grips her hands tightly into fists and punches the ground again while appearing ready to break into tears, and Riku got close to her and commented as he did so "It has nothing to do with your appearance or your gender, Lunis. I can just tell you were never truly invested in this matter. You should find something to fight for genuinely and not force yourself to do what your father expects of you." Riku then extended his right hand out and with a brief smile on his face he commented as Lunis looked straight up at him "I'm not going to force you to do anything though. It's just something to consider, alright?"

Lunis looked at Riku for a few seconds before gritting her teeth and weakly raising a hand up to brush Riku's own away, commenting as she did so "J-Just stop trying to be nice already…" Lunis turns her head to the left and swings her left hand behind herself, causing a vortex to suddenly open up at her whim. She pulls herself onto her feet just enough to enable her to start limping towards it, remarking to Riku with a firm glare on her face "Like I told you before…You should stop trying to figure this out…Your planet is fine now, it has been ever since we began the battle…As much as I hate to say it, now you have no choice but to go after father now…But we WILL see each other again, and mark my words if you show me mercy again I will die cursing you for the rest of eternity in the afterlife, Riku…"

Slipping into the vortex, Lunis disappeared without a trace, and Riku just lowered his eyelids slightly and with his head turned he thought to himself _"I get the feeling I could have handled that better…"_ Dejected by the end result of things, Riku was nevertheless happy to know the Earth was safe, and Kairi shared those very same thoughts as she deactivated the Angel Drive and let out a sigh of relief while laying a hand against her chest. She was still quite battered from the battle, but because of that the smile on her face stood out a lot more.

Kairi reached into the right pocket of her shorts and pulled out a small vial with a misty, radiant aura inside of it and popped the cork off with her right thumb, and with her right hand she guided a third of the aura out of the vial and put it into her mouth. After closing her mouth and letting out a warm hum, her body radiated brightly for a little bit as the scars and blemishes on her body disappear. She puts the vial away afterwards while Riku blinked a couple times and remarked "W-What was that you just used…?"

Kairi looked at Riku while taking a hand to the back of his hair and tried to put it back into place before remarking "Mom gave it to me before you and Mew got back. It's a concentration of her aura that acts as a healing ointment when you swallow it. Unfortunately, there's only two uses left…" Riku gestured his right hand out and commented "Then keep it safe. Mew and I can heal our wounds by changing forms, but you don't have that same benefit, right?"

"Only with the Neo Drive, the Beast Tamer and Angel Drives keep the damage I take when I fight normally." Kairi explained, and Riku just accepted that as an answer. Kairi then looked at Riku and with arms folded behind her back she remarked "So I think I get what you were trying to do with Lunis. You were trying to use her doubts in an attempt to maybe sway her to our side, right?"

Riku blinked a couple times in confusion and said "No, that wasn't the plan at all. I was just trying to help her out." Kairi then gave Riku a sly look in the eyes and said to him "You really just did it because you find her attractive, didn't you?" Riku tilted his head slightly and commented "I really don't get why I'm being accused of that. Sure maybe she's a little cute, but this really isn't the time for that type of behavior."

Kairi pulled her arms out from behind her back and said with a giggle "I'm just kidding around. Still, maybe what you said will have an impact on her later. She's certainly more sane than her brother at any rate." Riku nodded her head and remarked "That's what I hope. But for now, Lunis is right, we need to go after Justek. Though I suppose first we should catch up with my brother."

"Is that energy ring he gave you still working?" Kairi inquired, and Riku nodded his head as he raised his right hand up and clenched his fingers slightly. "We shouldn't have too much trouble finding him. Though there is the matter of getting to him quickly." Riku said, and Kairi just told him with a smile "I'll let you carry me on your back this one time, alright? You can go as fast as you want then."

"If you're fine with that, then sure. Hopefully your body can handle it." Riku said, and Kairi just smiled and looked very unconcerned. With them in agreement, the two made their way out of Lunis' palace and immediately saw the planet Earth was back to looking normal…Relatively speaking, that is. The ice was gone, and the sunlight was cut off for the time being, making it look a little darker from afar. The planet should get the sunlight back though in a matter of time.

After looking at the Earth for a few seconds, Kairi lays a hand on the back of her head and comments "…We can't let our world suffer anymore. Do you think we'll be safe leaving it behind to go after Justek?" Riku said optimistically "If the Vortexians are meant to target us and Solaris and the Phoenix of Destruction went off somewhere else, then everyone on Earth should be fine for now. You ready to go, Kairi?"

"Uh-huh." Kairi stated, and she quickly got onto Riku's back as he bent down to pick her up. After making certain that she was perfectly secured, Riku raised his right hand up and focused on the ring his brother left behind, and with a nod of his head he leaped off the moon's surface and thought _"Hold on brother, we're coming to help."_ The moon and Earth were soon left behind as Riku flew at an incredible pace through the depths of space, to hopefully meet up with his brother and bring the fight to Justek himself…

 _Next Time: What Worth is a Replica?_


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Useless**

" _Huh? Where am I?"_ Mew thought to himself as he seemed to be staring around at a distorted black expanse. His body moved around slowly and skipped seconds of movement periodically, and he appeared to be lost in this darkness. Cupping his hands around his mouth, Mew exclaimed _"Hello! HELLO? Is anyone out there? Kairi? Riku? Anyone?"_ Mew didn't get any answers at first and assumed that he was all alone here until he turned around and after some distortions plagued the area he saw Alex Whiter suddenly appear in front of him a good twenty feet away.

Mew raised his hand up and exclaimed _"Alex! Hey Alex! I'm right here!"_ it seemed something was off though, as Mew was speaking as though Alex was someone trustworthy instead of the monster he should've been treated as. Mew ran forward after Alex, but even with his legs going as fast as they could he never seemed to be getting any closer to Alex Whiter. Mew began panting and sounding tired after a few minutes seemingly passed by in an instant, and he then noticed how Alex Whiter slowly began to turn around.

Alex Whiter just floated in place with his hands held out beside his hips, putting up a flaming aura as she hung his head down, grinned and told Mew harshly in an echoing voice _"Ridiculous…Why are you even here still? You can't do anything…You didn't even defeat me, and you THINK that YOU have what it takes to go after someone like Justek? You're weak Replica…useless beyond ALL comparison!"_ Mew continued running and exclaimed _"What?! What are you saying that for?!"_

" _Why wouldn't I say that? You tiny, insignificant thing…You don't understand anything about how weak and useless you truly are. Weak and useless, you weak weak Replica…I don't think I consciously created you, no clone of mine would ever be so damn weak."_ Alex said coldly, holding nothing back in his words. Mew continued to run, and now it seemed he was doing it entirely against his will. Alex commented a moment later while raising his head up and sneering _"Why are you still here? WHY DO YOU KEEP PLAGUING MY SIGHT WITH YOUR IRRITATING USELESSNESS?!"_

" _I-I'm not useless!"_ Mew suddenly exclaimed between his pants, and all of a sudden Riku calls out to him from behind with _"Shut up already. I hate to say it, but Alex Whiter is right…You ARE weak."_ Mew flinched in shock and turned around while still running, where his body then started sweating horribly as Alex Whiter disappeared behind him and the area distorted in order for Riku to appear with Kairi standing beside him. Kairi had a look of disappointment on her face while Riku just folded his arms together and looked irritated.

" _How could you possibly be my brother? You're so weak that's it's disgusting…Why are you even still around? You'll never contribute anything to this battle with Justek…You couldn't even defeat Alex Whiter, you knew that you would never be able to defeat Solaris or Lunis…You can't be serious if you think that you deserve to be here still. You're a failure as an Elemental Overlord…"_ Riku's harshness felt rather off, and Mew shook his head as he continued to run and commented in a dried tone of voice as the moisture was leaving his body _"You aren't Riku…You would never say that!"_

" _Oh shut up…You don't even know what type of person I am. You threw me out to the universe to become my own person two years ago. How do you know I'm not just as bad as Alex Whiter? How can you even trust me? You're naïve, that's what makes you weak…COME ON AND ACCEPT THAT!"_ Riku continued to be harsh and cruel, speaking a lot like Alex Whiter now. Mew shook his head defiantly but his panting became heavier as he gasped and said _"S-Stop it Riku! K-Kairi…You can't possibly think that too, right?"_

Kairi said _"You always hold me back from fighting these days…Because you know I'm stronger than you. You hate the fact that a girl could possibly be more powerful than you…And I thought you were sweet, but you've always just been another sexist pig…Riku trusts my strength however, and I love HIM more than I ever did a useless, weak bug like you!"_ Suddenly, Mew began to shrink, with Kairi and Riku now towering over him in a matter of seconds as they turned to look each other contently in the eyes, and as Mew's skin shriveled up he looked in horror as Kairi and Riku locked lips with each other and began kissing, going so intently at it they began to lock their tongues together and wrap their arms around each others bodies.

" _Nooo…Nooo…Stop this nightmare…It's not real…I'm not weak!"_ Mew proclaimed in a raspy tone of voice, but then the frightening image of Riku and Kairi making out was replaced with absolute darkness as Mew was lashed with tendrils of pure darkness. These tendrils stuck into his back while one wrapped around the front of his mouth, holding him entirely in place unable to move or speak besides some muffled grunts as she swung his arms out, though a couple more tendrils pierced into his elbows to stop him just a moment later.

Mew tried his best to look behind him and saw a fanged grin within the darkness, the familiar smile of that demon 'D.'. The demon then says _"Don't worry…You'll always have me. I'll make sure you'll be strong….Forever and ever, human, I will always be by your side…Let go of your doubts, and let me have you…And we will make things beautiful in the universe, beautiful with the blood of carnage we will inflict upon them all who have doubted us. Now…LET US BECOME ONEEEEE!"_ As 'D.' drags Mew towards himself with a look of sheer fright on Mew's face…

Mew suddenly snaps out of this nightmare he was having with a blunt heart attack striking his chest, and he was floating in the middle of space with a barrier of air around his body and a cold sweat trickling across his skin. Mew panted a couple times and realized he was upside-down…Relatively speaking that is. Mew then puts himself upright and with a hand laid against his beating chest he thought to himself _"W-What was that all about…? I-I can't be falling asleep right now, I shouldn't be this tired…"_

Mew gulped some saliva and looked around, finding himself deep within the black and starry expanse of space without so much as a single planet or even a rock in sight. "I-I need to keep moving…Alex has to be around here somewhere." Mew commented, but then grinned and thought to himself with a nervous expression "Geez, I make it sound so easy…All I have to do is find one person amongst a million miles of empty space. I-I guess I should just focus for elemental energy…There's no way Alex could hide that from me if he's still pursuing Solaris."

Mew continued to move onward, but then 'D.' comments to him within his mind _"You always have such interesting dreams and nightmares, boy…At the very least I can feed on those when your anger does not come through."_ Mew just lowered his eyebrows and commented "Hey demon…Make yourself useful and tell me more about Justek." After a brief pause, the demon gave a grin and said playfully _"Now why would you assume I know anything about that man?"_

"Because you were around during that time. Surely you met Justek." Mew remarked, and 'D.' said in a calm and purposely teasing tone _"Hmmm, maybe I have, maybe I haven't. I think the most important question you should be asking yourself right now is…'Why should the demon inhabiting my mind give me any information regarding such a man?'"_ Mew quickly replied "So you DO know who he is?"

" _That seemed pretty obvious to guess, yes."_ The demon said with the most coy of sarcasm in his voice, followed up by him saying _"Anyways…I have no intention of revealing anything I know to you unless you give me something of equal value in return, such as perhaps…Your body?"_ Mew just instantly looked on ahead and increased the speed of his flight with an annoyed expression on his face, knowing now that he should have assumed this result from the start.

" _Hehehe…You'll just have to have fun with Justek when the time comes. Of course…Assuming your mind can make it through this unscathed. Poor child, you have no clue just how broken you truly are…"_ Mew just chose to ignore the demon from here on out unless he said something actually interesting instead of wasting time with taunts, and even if he did choose to listen to the demon his focus would quickly shift forward as he felt a surge of elemental energy coming from on ahead. Mew looked forward and saw a shockwave of pure bright flames going out across a vertical expanse of space.

Mew sped forward a little faster and approached the center of the shockwave as another one went out, and as he got close enough Mew saw Alex Whiter floating in place with his left plunged into some sort of solid object in the way. Mew flew as close as he could to Alex without trying to make a sound, but it didn't take long for Alex to pull his fist away from the wall and quickly turn around with a slightly frustrated scowl on his face. The scowl turned to annoyance as he looked at Mew and remarked "Oh GREAT…It's you."

Mew stopped twenty feet away from Alex and with a slight lowering of his eyebrows he commented "I can't believe I actually found you. I thought you were going after Solaris." Alex quickly turned back and completely ignored Mew for the moment until he exclaimed out "Hey! You seem to have nothing better to do at the moment, so can you just pay attention for a moment?" Alex glanced over his shoulder and remarked in a blunt but gravely tone "Why should I bother using my precious time by dealing with a defective replica?"

"…I don't really have any good answer to give you Alex. Could you at least tell me what's going on here? Like why you are attacking something invisible, specifically…" Mew commented while slowly approaching Alex, who threw out another flaming punch that sent a shockwave rippling across an invisible wall of sorts. Alex held his fist against the force in front of him and commented after a frustrated growl "Fine!"

Alex then turned himself around and remarked with an insane look in his eyes "You see this stupid wall? I was pursuing that childish sun god and then ended up being blocked off by this. I can't break it no matter how hard I've hit it…Damn Justek Arcavira, this must truly be his doing." Alex glared over his shoulder at the wall and laughed a bit despite having no reason to do so, and Mew just looked at him and with a worried expression he commented "Maybe it can't be broken with force alone. Have you tried using the Time Stone?"

Alex raised his eyebrows in confusion and looked at Mew before realizing what he meant and saying "Oh, the Gaia Temporis…Hehehehe, you think I'd waste my time using that on this weak barrier?" "A weak barrier that's been holding you back for the last hour or so…" Mew commented quietly while rubbing the back of his head, but Alex managed to hear him and remarked "And yet I don't see you trying to break the barrier. You couldn't anyways, you weak little fool…"

Mew just took the insult in stride as he looked Alex straight in the eyes and told him "No, I'm not going to bother, if you can't break it, then I know I can't either." Alex paused for a moment and then grinned, looking Mew straight in the eyes and telling him with a slight but of intrigue in his tone "Fascinating that you would admit that…Fine, I suppose I will waste a bit of time with you until I can figure out how to break that barrier."

Mew then tried to get close to Alex, but he swung his right arm out and created a wall of flame to hold Mew back while remarking "Don't even think about it. You will stay right there and talk, otherwise this conversation will be over in an instant." Mew wondered for a bit why Alex wanted to keep such a distance between the two, and got his answer when Alex began to slowly drop his hands into his pants' pockets. Mew quickly glared at Alex and told him "You can speak without having the Gaia Temporis on stand-by. You think I'm going to attack you?"

"You're no threat to me, you know…Hehehe, I'm just making sure I'll be ready to escape to another part of space if you do anything to prove that this is a waste of time. Which admittedly, shouldn't be too hard for a fool like you to do." Alex commented with the utmost callousness in his voice, and immediately Mew commented while holding his arms together against his chest "Fine then, lets start with something simple. What happened to you Alex? You wiped my memories of our meeting and then disappeared for three years only to come back as someone who wants to destroy everything? That doesn't add up at all, and you and I both know it."

Alex gave a widened grin and said "I told you already. I woke up and realized how shitty this universe truly is." That short answer did not satisfy Mew, who swung his right arm out in front of his body and commented "Like hell that's all there is to it. I refuse to believe it was that simple." Alex remarked quickly "Oh? Such simpleness doesn't work for you? That's odd, cause your beliefs and ideologies are just as a simple as the answer I gave you. Surely that'd be satisfying enough…?"

"Cut the crap Alex, I heard what Riku told me. You destroyed the Marvel Universe, even the Cosmic Abstracts, you attacked Alpha, you did whatever you could to free Justek. Even for all the crap I gave you back on Plit, I knew that deep down you were a good person. The person you were back then would never go to such extremes like you have now!" Mew's accusing tone struck a cord in Alex for a moment, but the surprised look on his face quickly turned back to one of arrogance as he lowered his head and bluntly told Mew "Oh? And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Because you came to save me from Joe Dark! And I'm pretty sure you used your powers to save Mario and the others from Mr. Reality's attack. Does that sound like a destroyer to you?" Mew pointed out as bluntly as he possibly could, followed by Alex looking Mew directly in the eyes and commenting "Shut up, that was just the action of someone who still had the slightest grip on a pathetic and pointless ideology. The ideology that a hero is someone that should save everyone without any deaths occurring."

Alex then raised his head up and after a scoff he told Mew "I can tell from the way you look and spoke to me that you think I am insane. I am not…I know for a fact that my purpose now is the right one, and that above all else I am saving everyone with my actions, even though none of them deserve salvation. I have perfectly accepted my role as the destroyer, because I was given no other choice but to become it." Mew looked Alex in the eyes and said "That's never true. You always have a choice. You chose to accept being the Phoenix of Destruction, but what I don't get is what would lead you to do it, Alex."

Alex raised a hand out of his pockets and pointed at Mew's chest, telling him bluntly "Oh, I will be more than willing to tell you the story. After all, in the face of the madness I experienced, even your retarded optimism and ideologies will crumble, and you'll become a destroyer just like me. Can your poor wittle heart handle this?" Alex's belittling aside, Mew just responded by lifting his head up high and remarking "I'm not going to back down. I will hear everything you say and continue to think that you aren't in the right, Alex."

Alex shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, remarking as he did so "Foolish replica…You have no idea what my story even is. Fine, let us start from the beginning…Follow along if you can."

" _It all started with a boy who lost his parents to an event he could not comprehend nor control. A man took him afterwards, and the boy thought he'd be cared for by this new father…But this was not a fatherly sort of man. No, this man was the most despicable aspects of humanity rolled into one…He cared only for power, and sought to use the boy as an experiment to further his ends. The end results was a lot of suffering, but the boy could then fly and was stronger than he was before…The boy thought with the ability to fly he could escape the darkness, but no matter how far he went it was always right in front of him._

 _Then came a man from another world years later who guided the boy to another, greater purpose. He was granted the power of the Elemental Overlord, becoming greater than all others, and he used that power to cast away the darkness for a time…But the darkness came back twice over and tried to break him, but only the reflection of darkness in the mirror could truly make the boy realize that he was not as grand as he thought he could be…So the boy hid within that very darkness that once scared him and wished not to have anything to do with the people he had met…_

 _But then the other boy showed up along with the alien who could bend reality, bathing the world in a truly repugnant darkness that dragged the other side of the people of this world out. The two boys were not affected, and the original was guided to help the second to the best of his ability…Because the second boy knew nothing of the darkness the original carried, and was guided forward only by the light. That is the original cast him away, because the second boy could potentially save him, and he did not know if he ever wanted or deserved that._

 _So the boy crept back into the darkness again until he was pulled out of it from the man who wanted to be his father, a man with more noble intentions than the last person who tried to take on such a role. The father figure wished the boy to be greater than he thought he was, but while his help was appreciated it was not enough to pull the boy out of the darkness. No, that only came in the form of a girl who radiated with pure light…She was warm, friendly, kind…And in desperate need of help._

 _Her people needed a savior, but the girl was worried that perhaps the boy was not enough quite yet…But the boy wished to help this girl of pure light, whose presence pushed away the darkness around him, and the girl suggested seeking out a relic of her people that existed deep within the cosmos itself. So the boy and the girl left the planet behind and sought to find this relic, and if nothing else the experience of the universe could make the boy strong enough to save the girl's people anyways._

 _But while there were many joys to experience out there, the boy saw the darkest parts of the universe as well. Worlds slowly tearing themselves apart over wars, time resets, and racism…All these threatened to pull the boy back into the darkness, drag him deeper than it ever had before. But the girl was always there to push away the darkness, remind him that kindness could truly exist…Her pure light was always so warm and intoxicating, but the boy didn't care about any of that…He knew he wanted to keep this light to himself, to love this light and never return to the darkness…_

 _But then it happened…After an encounter with something between the light and darkness, the dreaded grey, the light betrayed the boy, and bathed the world of darkness he saw in the splattered of red…His own blood, to be precise. The girl had betrayed him, the light in her heart cast away to reveal the darkness…And then the boy realized then that there was nothing worthwhile in the universe. He was tired of the darkness, he was tired of the light, he was tired of it all…So he set the darkness aflame and tried to bury the light alive, but the light slew the flames…_

 _But as the name suggests, the boy rose up from the flames, reborn the Phoenix of Destruction. He could not find the light again at that point, and instead sought to bury the grey flames, blaming it understandably for turning the light astray. He bathed the moon in flames and killed it's impure denizens…He stood before the judge of black and white and cut off their head…And then he burned the world of fantasy to nothing…But the grey revealed it was all a ruse and dragged the boy to a world of Marvels…That he destroyed as true as he possibly could. After all, what use is a world of Marvels when they betray their own allegiances for their own petty purposes?_

 _The boy was then made to stand trial, and the three judges hoped to put an end to his rampage. But the boy tricked one of the judges to let him escape, and upon that moment the boy accepted his role as a destroyer…Neither darkness, the grey or the light would be left alive. All of it was worthless, none of it could help him…Because he no longer needed it. All he needed now was to see a universe buried in nothing but flames. And to that end, he'd free the monster from his cage…"_

Alex's story came to an end at that point, and Mew just stared at him with a wide-eyed expression before commenting "So you're doing all this…Just because a girl you loved betrayed you?" Alex shook his head slightly and commented "You think so little of me if that's the simple answer you came up with. No, she was just the catalyst to my realization…My desire to end the universe has slowly built up over time. I've seen the evils of the universe, from humanity to the beings beyond most mortal's comprehension…And let me tell you, if you experienced these very same events yourself, you would have become the Phoenix of Destruction too. That's just the inevitability of it all, foolish replica Mew."

Mew paused for a moment and took Alex's story in the rest of the way and then shook his head, remarking quietly "No…No, I don't believe for a second that I would ever react like that to such events." "Then that's just your optimism once more poisoning your mind. Hahahaha…" Alex remarked with a callous and rather eerie laugh, and Mew just exclaimed in turn "You know, maybe my optimism is a detriment at times, I am sane enough to admit that! But I'm glad I'm the type of person I am. And you can't tell me a part of you doesn't regret what you're doing."

"No, no it doesn't. Because I know I am right…Everything deserves to be destroyed, burned to the very ground until nothing remains but a single spark of fire, and when that's snuffed out all will be gone. No light, no darkness…Nothingness will remain eternal in this world, and no one will be around to care about it's existence." Alex replied, swinging his arms out and widening his eyes to show pure madness on his face, but Mew just glared at him and bluntly said "Then I can recognize that I haven't been speaking to Alex Whiter at all this entire time. All I'm talking to is the being called the Phoenix of Destruction."

"We're both one in the same, foolish replica. The sooner you realize that-" "The sooner I'll be able to accept it? No, you're wrong. You're both not the same person. The real Alex Whiter wouldn't allow things to go this far. He had his flaws, but he WAS a hero. You're just a destroyer, a mindless and insane beast." Mew responded quickly, interrupting Alex's words without so much as a second thought regarding them. Alex tauntingly held his hands out and set them aflame before remarking "And just what do you plan to do about it? Fight me again?"

Mew clenched his right fist tightly and thrust it out at Alex, and with a firm and confident expression he said "I will. I will punch you again and again and beat the Phoenix of Destruction out of your body and mind, even if I break all of my limbs or die in the process. I will drag the real Alex Whiter back to the surface…" Mew then lowers his fist and subdues his expression before commenting "But not right now. Once Justek is stopped, then I'll settle this with you. But right now, I consider him to be more of a threat."

Alex widened his eyes for a moment and then dropped the flames from his hands, and with a smirk on his face he commented "Hehehe, how do you even hope to make a difference with how weak you are?" Mew glared Alex in the eyes and told him without losing any of his confidence "I'm incredibly stubborn. You should remember that much anyways, right?" Alex paused and chuckled a little before turning his head to the right and remarking "Speaking of stubborn…Your two little cockroach allies are coming this way…Seems I should've noticed the tether you created sooner…"

Mew glanced over his left shoulder and saw Riku flying towards him quickly with Kairi riding on his back. Once the two were close enough, Riku stopped flying and looked at Alex with a slight glare, followed by Mew commenting while nervously turning around and rubbing the back of his head "How long was I having that nightmare for?" He was quiet enough for Riku not to hear him, and he quickly went on to ask "So you guys managed to stop Lunis?"

Kairi got off of Riku's back and said "Lunis got away, unfortunately, but the Earth is back to normal now." Alex commented with a bit of a chuckle in his voice "Hahahah…You let them get away. How pathetic…Can't you fools do anything right?" Riku responded to this by grinning slightly and remarking in a mocking tone "And yet here YOU are without Solaris anywhere in sight. I guess he got away?"

Alex glared at Riku a bit and didn't actually respond to that. Kairi then asked "Ummm, Mew…Why are you standing around here anyways?" Mew gestured over his right shoulder and commented "There's a barrier in the way. Justek must have set it up. So hey, how'd it turn out Kairi? Did Riku give you any trouble?" Riku raised his eyebrows a bit at that and then Kairi said with a smile on her face "Oh don't worry about what happened with us. Everything went fine."

Mew paused for a bit before commenting "Well that's good to hear. So Kairi, you have any idea on how to get through this barrier? Maybe your aura will do the job?" Alex folded his arms together and commented "That little whore won't do anything. You're putting too much trust in an Aurian." As Mew and Kairi turned to glare at Alex, Riku raised his right hand up and drew his sword while commenting "Say another word and you're done for, Phoenix of Destruction."

Alex grinned and then drew his right hand out of his pockets, wiggling the fingers around before commenting "Maybe it's finally time I got rid of this replica of a replica…" A battle between Alex and Riku seemed more than ready to start, but then the barrier behind Alex began to distort with a wide and tall wall of static, and a voice with an equal amount of distortion to it began to speak, making the person in question sound alien. _"Now now successors of the Elemental Overlord's will, there is no reason to shed blood. After all, it's me you're after, right?"_

The four turned to the wall, with Riku, Kairi and Mew freezing up a bit as they heard the voice of the man responsible for the Vortexians, the father of Solaris and Lunis and the monster that could hold his own against the original Elemental Overlord, Justek Arcavira. Alex grinned widely and said "So I finally hear you for the first time, Justek…And you're hiding behind a static screen with a voice modifier of all things?" Justek laughed a little bit and then said _"As it must be, Phoenix of Destruction. If I showed myself to you now, that wouldn't be very satisfying, would it?"_

Riku lowered his sword and commented "So you're Justek Arcavira…Where exactly are you watching us from?" _"Eager to find me, are you? You'll get the chance soon enough, Phoenix of Balance Riku, I can quite assuredly say. But first, the last challenges I have set before you must be conquered. Take this particularly crafted barrier for example…The Phoenix of Destruction is the only one who cannot pass through it, at least not quite yet."_ Justek replied punctually.

Alex said "Of course not. Fine then, I will play your silly little game Justek…What must I do to earn your pathetic little favor to pass?" Justek took Alex's rudeness without a care and replied in turn _"Why my dear 'friend', you must go to the planet Venus and defeat the foe I set up for you. Only then will the barrier break. Your comrades will be the only ones who can move on in the meantime."_

Riku folded his arms together and remarked "I can already figure out your plan here. You're going to split us up one after the other with more barriers that only certain people can pass through. So that leaves the question of which one of us you want to remain alone when they finally reach you." Mew and Kairi looked back at Riku in surprise of his analysis, but came to agreement to themselves that he was likely right. Justek in fact did not deny such things and commented _"Who is to say I even want you to reach me? Hehehe, I jest of course. I'd love for the four of you to come to my current abode and meet me face-to-face. After all, I am the villain here, and it is only at the endgame that the heroes confront the villain and foil his plots, right?"_

Even with the distortions in his voice, it was clear just how nonchalant Justek was speaking, which was not the type of behavior expected of such a great threat. Mew said to Justek a moment after thinking about this "Fine then, we'll meet you at the endgame and defeat you, Justek! Your challenges don't scare us after making it this far!" Justek chuckled a little and then said in a proud tone _"Good…Good…I would have been more disappointed if you turned tail and ran, Phoenix of Rebirth. But then again, I have never had any intention of scaring any of you off. My tests are a little more complex than that…They have been from the very start."_

"Enough babbling, Justek. I will play your little game and then come for your life, you can be assured of that. Hehehehe!" Alex commented, and then he turned himself to the right and saw Venus off in the distance, and before he began to fly towards Mew parted away from the group for a moment and remarked "Alex, remember what I said before. This isn't over, so don't you go dying now!"

Alex paused for a moment and put his hands in his pockets before commenting "And remember what I said…You're out of your league, replica. You'd be best to just go home instead of throwing your useless life away…Hrmph!" Alex then kicked off towards Venus so he wouldn't have to hear anymore from the others. Then, Justek said to the trio that remained _"One departs, three remains…But it will not be very long before you are down to two and then down to one. And what happens after that? Well…There are so many possibilities to beholden from such events. Farewell for now, Riku, Mew, and Kairi…"_

Justek then shut the screen off, and the trio looked at each other with Riku commented with an accepting expression "I guess we'll have to worry about Alex later. Justek takes top priority. Are we ready?" Mew and Kairi didn't need to hesitate in their nods, but Riku stared at Mew for a few seconds and thought about what Alex had said…For as much as he hated the man, perhaps Alex did have a point regarding Mew's position here. With Riku's eyebrows raised in concern Mew looked at him and commented "Something up Riku…?"

Riku shook the expression off and said "N-Nothing to worry about. Lets get a move on, brother…" "Mmmmm, alright." Mew commented, and without another word the three turned around and phased right through the barrier without any trouble. They went on towards the sun, knowing they would run into another barrier soon enough. As for Alex Whiter…

 _Next Time: It all began with him…_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17: Puppet of the Darkness**

Alex Whiter flies down towards the planet Venus after parting from those fools who dared to bother him. He barely gave them a second thought now that Justek made his first appearance, even if it was in the form of a voice. Alex grinned as wide as he could, panting heavily with sheer anticipation before he rapidly giggles and states "Everything is falling into place…Soon I will exact my vengeance on this damned and cursed universe. Those 'higher-ups', that damn traitor, that damn being of grey…They'll all die along with every other accursed follower of light or darkness in this world!"

Alex went to the atmosphere of Venus and swung his arms out, blowing away the gases that surrounded it with a swirling, circular wall of wind. Alex then quickly slams down against the surface of the planet and causes it to shake, lifting his body up with flames leaking out from both sides of his mouth as he summons forth an aura of fire around his body and remarks "Now…Who is the damn fool who is going to waste my time now? What little entertainment can you provide me before the main appetizer, Justek Arcavira?"

As Alex stands in the middle of his self-created maelstrom of wind, the ground devoid of any and all life, he looks on ahead with his eyes glowing slightly red as a shadow slowly starts to walk right through the wind wall without so much as a degree of hesitation. The person had a human figure like Alex, and the aura of pale darkness that surrounded them was quite clear. When the figure showed themselves fully, Alex just widened his eyes and started laughing eerily and slowly, remarking once he was done "Oh Justek…You truly are as INTERESTING as I thought you would be!"

The person with the darkness around them was none other than the first major enemy Alex Whiter ever had, the reborn Dark King himself, Joe Dark. Though his foe has aged since the last time he saw him, Alex Whiter could recognize his black hair, skull-patterned shirt, and slightly torn blue jeans. But this time around, Joe Dark had a rather odd look in his eyes. The same piercing, menacing glare was there, but now there was a black and messy ring on the skin around his eyes along with a bit of heavy pink in the whites of his eyes.

Alex Whiter swung his arms out and reared his head back to laugh some more, commenting as he almost had tears in his eyes from the laughter "Oh of course…Justek chose you of all people to waste my time, Joe Dark. How long has it been since I truly saw you? Four years now…? I bet you still hate me, foolishly believing that I am responsible for the lack of justice being brought for your family's demise…" Joe Dark just grinned and held his right hand up to pull out his small dagger, and he brings it close to his mouth in order to lick along the sharp end with his tongue, drawing no blood at all as he slowly laughs.

"You have no words, do you? Of course not…You're a victim of Justek's mind-controlling eyes. I read enough about those in those damn tablets that original Elemental Overlord left behind. The mind of a man who has achieved the strength beyond any god will never find himself affected by such simple hypnotism like you have, Joe Dark. So, are you going to fight me now?" After Alex Whiter commented on Joe Dark's condition, the boy lowered his dagger and hazily remarked "Kill…Whiter…Kill…Whiter…"

Alex Whiter hunched his head over and said quietly "Yes…I suppose not even Justek could hold back your rage against me. The original Dark King sure as hell couldn't…That's what's kept you alive all this time, hasn't it? Even after I burned your goddamn body down along with your goddamn soul you came back to life…Hehehe, too bad for you then that I will just send you straight back to hell!" Alex then kicked his feet off the ground while swinging his right hand up, preparing flames in his palm as he nears Joe Dark in an instant.

Joe Dark swings his dagger forward and sends a couple slicing blades of darkness out, both of which rip through Alex's burning hand and disperse the flames, putting some very minors cuts into his palm as well. But Alex just quickly reignited the flames and swung his arm above Joe Dark's dagger, grabbing the boy of darkness by the face and after releasing an eruption of fire meant to burn the skin Alex pulls Joe Dark to the ground and slams him down as hard as he could, cracking the surface of the planet around his body while Alex himself kneeled down slightly and kept a grip on Joe Dark's face.

Joe Dark tries to escape through a portal of darkness behind where he laid, but Alex quickly pulls him up and remarks "You think you can escape me?!" Before he swung his left fist out in a hook and punched Joe Dark in the gut, hitting him hard there twice over with electricity imbued into his fist to make sure that he would draw blood from the flesh close to his stomach. As Joe Dark bled out through the hole in his shirt Alex threw him into the dust storm past the wall of wind he created, where hopefully the heated atmosphere of Venus would greatly harm Joe Dark some more.

Joe Dark quickly created a portal of darkness behind him as he landed on the ground, taking very little damage from the atmosphere of Venus. Joe Dark then disappeared for a while and created a series of dark slits in the air around Alex Whiter. Alex widened his eyes a bit in anticipation and commented "Oh? What type of trick do you have up your sleeve now?" The slits release a barrage of slicing violet needles, but Alex just swings his arms out and creates a series of electric barriers to grab onto the needles and hold them in place.

Alex then holds the barriers in front of his body and consumes the needles with electricity before pushing them back into one of the slits in front of him. Joe Dark ensures that the needles emerge out from a larger slit behind Alex the moment they go through the first one, but Alex quickly turns around and swings his right hand out while it's coated in pure steel to push the needles away to the ground while commenting "You think you can trick me?!"

Alex began laughing and then swings his arms out, creating two seething spheres of water before he throws them out with a casual gesture of his arms towards the slits. Once the water was within the darkness, Alex made the spheres burst open and flood the darkness with a tidal wave of seething liquid in hopes of flushing Joe Dark out of the realm. Joe Dark quickly emerged behind Alex Whiter from a gap he cut open with his dagger, the same maniacal look in his hypnotized eyes as he plunged the dagger down towards Alex's exposed back.

Alex stood upright and just flared his aura up so brightly that it held back Joe Dark's dagger, forcing the boy of darkness to repel himself back and land on the ground, where he licks the heat off of the glowing tip of his dagger at the cost of burning his tongue, though that quickly heals up thanks to the darkness within his body. Joe Dark laughs a bit quietly as Alex glances over his right shoulder and grins, commenting to the boy a moment later "You little rabid goblin…The same as you always have been, I see…"

Alex turns himself around and levitates off the ground while holding small pillars of fire above his palms, and with an arrogant sneer he comments "Too bad for you that I'm far beyond what I once was before…" Alex claps together the two small pillars of fire and makes a gigantic one erupt right on top of Joe Dark, the ground shattering apart as glowing cracks of magma spread out, formed by the will Alex Whiter possessed and the behemoth strength of his elements. Though Joe Dark was buried amongst the flames, he quickly leaped from them with half of his face burned off and a lack of care in the world.

He swung his dagger downward and created a gigantic piercing needle from darkness, but Alex Whiter sidesteps it in an instant with his right hand already raised, and with a single widening of his eyes Alex forms a flaming sword large enough to pierce through half of Joe Dark's body, mostly taking out a ton of flesh from his chest including the heart. But this only stalled the reborn Dark King, who quickly swung his dagger across the air to create a gap into the darkness that he could slide into down the length of the flaming sword.

There was then a bit of silence as Alex Whiter lowered his arm and dispelled the sword, followed by him smirking and saying "You're such a cockroach, Joe Dark…Always coming back time and time again even though no one wants you around. And yet unlike a cockroach, you never get strong enough to triumph over what killed you before. Hahaha, to think that my foolish younger self was EVER afraid of you…" Joe Dark then ripped through a gap in darkness with a dagger in each hand, and he swung them out while they were coated in darkness.

Sending waves of pure blackness out in crescent form, Joe Dark quickly landed on the ground and slid forward towards Alex while swinging the daggers some more to keep applying pressure onto Alex with more waves of darkness. But all he managed to do was slice through the wind wall around the arena as Alex quickly managed to use his speed to get behind Joe Dark, pointing his fingers out on both sides of his body and summoning forth two large spheres of flames to pool together in order to fire off a gigantic beam of fire forward at Joe Dark's backside.

Joe Dark is swallowed up in the flames and sent past the wind wall, which splits apart from the amount of power from Alex's fire. Alex just kept his eyes widened while his body was consumed by the light of his own flames. When Alex was done, there was a massive burning canyon in the planet's surface, but no sign of Joe Dark's body. Alex swung his arms downward and exclaimed while looking absolutely excited "Come out come out wherever you are, JOE DARK!"

The undeniable joy could be heard in Alex Whiter's voice as he was dominating Joe Dark with his power. As the acidic gases of Venus began to fill in the hole where Alex struck with his flames, there were a series of bright red lights coming from afar. Alex just stood there and watched as Joe Dark obviously threw out some large, collapsing crimson spheres towards Alex Whiter. There were at least three dozens of these spheres, each one capable of disintegrating the largest of mountains, and they surrounded Alex from all sides.

Alex just swung his head and looked around at all the spheres, grinning from ear to ear as he said "Is this really all you're going to do?! Try and trap me like I'm some sort of wild animal? Come on now, I expect better from you, Joe Dark!" But Joe Dark wasn't done yet, as he flew above the spheres and swung his right hand down to create a series of dark strands, all of them spreading off from the bottom of his palm and piercing through the spheres to set them off, creating a gigantic nest of red explosions that dig into the planet's surface and raise up into the sky enough to nearly reach the bottom of Joe Dark's feet.

The planet's little atmosphere trembles as only a twenty-mile wide series of spherical, burning craters are left from Joe Dark's attack, but Alex Whiter was floating in the middle of it all with his aura flaming up and some slight singe marks on his skin. Alex then swings his right arm out and throws his aura away in a burst while exclaiming "Come now Joe Dark…No, Justek! Surely you can make your little puppet do more than this! THIS IS NOWHERE CLOSE TO A CHALLENGE TO SOMEONE LIKE ME!"

Alex then claps his hands in front of him and makes Venus tremble as he pulls forth two gigantic arms from the rocks of the planet itself and drags them through the acidic gases in order to clench Joe Dark within the hands of the rocks. When the hands were bonded together, Alex grips his fingers in between in each other tightly and causes the rocks to erupt with the force of twenty active volcanoes, spreading the burning rocks up across the depths of space before the flames disappear from the lack of oxygen.

Joe Dark flies forward from the explosion towards Alex Whiter, and Alex swung his right hand back and created a sphere of fire ready to incinerate Joe Dark once he got close. But then Joe Dark suddenly thrust his head forward and drew his dagger, stabbing it forward while speeding ahead, putting himself directly in front of Alex and stabbing him directly in the chest, which caused a little bit of darkness to spurt out as Alex widened his eyes in surprise for a moment as Joe Dark put his face close to his own and whispered "Kill…Whiter…" After Alex quickly got over his surprise, his eyes brightened with pure flames erupting from them as he exclaimed "H-How dare you…STAB ME!"

Alex quickly threw the flames he built up in his hand into Joe Dark's chest, incinerating that part of his body and sending the rest of him flying off through the air. The dagger still remained in Alex's body, but he quickly pulled it out and threw it forward with the utmost accuracy to impale Joe Dark's through the brain. The remainder of the body fell to the ground, but while Joe Dark was left with a bit of a shocked expression he quickly healed himself up with the darkness wrapping around the parts of his body that needed fixing.

Alex Whiter swung his arms above his head and exclaimed "Just die you damn cockroach! Die forever!" He then threw his arms down violently to send as many fireballs as he could at Joe Dark to try and kill him for good, but as the barrage exploded upon the ground Joe Dark was right in the middle of getting wrapped up in a chrysalis of darkness. Alex did not notice this and continued to attack Joe Dark while laughing maniacally, his voice coming out a little screechy as he did so.

But through the explosions of flames slipped forth a beastly head for a moment, which opened it's mouth wide and released a gigantic cone shaped blast of crimson darkness, completely with black lightning around it that ripped apart the fabric of the air as it went towards Alex Whiter and struck him before he could escape the attack. The smoke and flames disappears as Joe Dark lets out a roar, having now transformed into his Phantom Beast form, with the same ring appearing around the blood red eye at the center of his horned, darkness formed face.

Alex Whiter draws his sword to cut through the darkness horizontally in front of him, then looks down at Joe Dark with a furious expression before he got enough of a grip on himself to grin and state "So you got a new form for yourself since I last saw you…Like I give a damn!" Alex then flares his aura up brighter than ever before, using even more of his power as he grabs onto the surface of the planet and rips out chunks of it at a time, setting them aflame with but a mere thought before he throws them down at Joe Dark.

Joe Dark just rips his new claws off the ground and zips across the air, landing briefly on each meteor to rend them apart as he makes his way towards Alex. Joe Dark prepared to put Alex between his claws, but within an instant Alex ducked and threw a punched into the gut of Joe Dark's beastly form, which sent a ripple through his body before he was launched out miles away from Venus, putting into the depths of space as he recovered from the attack and grinded his claws against the darkness of it to stop his flight.

Alex flew away from Venus to pursue Joe Dark, moving at supersonic speeds through the depths of space with no resistance holding him back as he threw a heavy punch across the left side of Joe Dark's body, followed by him zipping back around and hitting him from the top of his backside. He kept striking Joe Dark all-around, coming down through space in the form of a burning streak every time due to how fast he was moving until Joe Dark's body could not be seen in-between all of the flames.

The only way Joe Dark was able to hold back Alex's assault was to summon forth a series of gigantic hands of darkness from his body and grab down at the same time, which allowed him to pull Alex from his flight with one of the hands close to his face. Joe Dark then dragged Alex Whiter in front of his face and said with a quiet echo "Kill…Whiter…Kill…Whiter…" Alex just didn't flinch and said after a brief grin "Yes…You want nothing more than to kill me, I will never forget that day you came after me you little wretch…"

Alex released the flaming aura around his body in the form of an explosion that tore apart the hand clasping him in place and struck the front of Joe Dark's body to push him back. Alex then gripped his hands tightly and set them aflame, raising his head up slightly before remarking "I can remember so clearly how my foolish mortal self from way back then let himself be frightened by your constant and pissant hounding, well never again will a single ounce of fear or doubt ever enter this body! I know what I am, and I know what everyone else is to me…! So guess what, Joe Dark…?"

Joe Dark opened his mouth and tried another cone of darkness upon Alex's body, but without so much as a hint of hesitation Alex punched forward and ripped through Joe Dark's beastly body, emerging from the other side as a few explosions of flame pounded the boy's innards and set plumes of fire bursting out from the sides of the darkness wrapping around his human self. Joe Dark reformed while simultaneously turning himself around, but Alex swung his body sideways towards him and with a snap of his fingers he said coldly "You can just burn alive again…"

The lingering flames that Alex kept alive by putting his own oxygen around them go off around Joe Dark in the form of massive explosions, which manages to then create a wind in all directions because of what Alex had done. Joe Dark, persistent as he was, charged through the explosions with rips and tears around the darkness in his body that were quickly reforming, but by manipulating the metal he could from Venus' underground Alex quickly created a series of chains that launched forth from the planet's surface and wrapped around Joe Dark's body.

All the while, Alex turned his body around and reached into his pocket as the beast struggled to break out, but Alex set the chains aflame to inflict a slow and burning pain upon Joe Dark to make his efforts all the more fruitless. Pulling out the Gaia Temporis, Alex used his powers to defy gravity and throw the mighty stone up and down beside his face while remarking quietly "Now…What should I do with you…" Alex clasped the Gaia Temporis tightly in his hand and held it beside his face while widening his eyes and grinning mischievously.

Joe Dark opened his mouth and tried to attack with darkness again, but Alex just pulled a couple chains forward and melted them down with his aura to seal up Joe Dark's mouths so he could only stay there and do nothing but continue to try and struggle free. Alex thought his options thoroughly, being incredibly meticulous as he dissected each one down incredibly quickly. Alex then stared Joe Dark in the eyes and told him "You know…It's been a good four years since I became the Elemental Overlord. I opened my eyes to the truth, Joe Dark, and in the end you were right about me…"

Alex grinned as he got as close to Joe Dark's eyes as he physically could, telling him with a quiet and raspy tone of voice "I shouldn't have been trusted from the start. But then again, the same could be said by everyone in the universe. Everyone is always out to betray the other in an instant, and there are no exceptions to that rule. I can say that for certain from first-hand experience. But now that I have accepted this fact, I am truly, genuinely happy. So I suppose your worthless, lonely existence had just that one bit of worth at the very end…You opened my eyes to the darkness, and allowed me to finish my transition into the Phoenix of Destruction."

Alex then pulled back and began tossing the Gaia Temporis up and down again, remarking with a licking of his lips "But that doesn't mean I will show you any mercy. I'm just having a little bit of difficulty figuring out what is the most fitting way to finish you off…" Alex gripped the Gaia Temporis tightly again and thought to himself while glancing at that about the face The Living Tribunal made as he used the stone to wipe the most powerful Cosmic Abstract from time itself. Such a powerful being, writhing in agony with all three of it's faces…It brought a smile to Alex's face that could not be fathomed.

"Wiping you from time and space…What type of ramifications would that have on all the timelines? Would it rip the universe apart? Oh boy, I'm getting a little jittery thinking about such an idea…And I would survive the affair because of the Gaia Temporis." Alex murmured out, followed by him shaking his head slightly and whispering out "No no…I wouldn't derive any pleasure from that. Well, I suppose that's a lie, but I want to see the look on your face as I'm sending you to hell like you rightfully deserve…I won't get that if I wipe you from existence."

Alex then grinned brightly and commented "You know, I'm actually forgetting something pretty important here, aren't I? You can't even tell what's going on, Joe Dark…Once more, you are a puppet…You always try to deny that others are using you, but we both know that's not the case. That stupid witch, the original Dark King, and now Justek are using you for their ends. You've also always been a puppet for your petty revenge…The point of the matter is that you aren't aware of anything thanks to Justek. In fact, he should be the one witnessing everything at this very moment…"

After a period to think about things a little more, Alex's eyes widened and he said after a drawn out laugh "Oh…I have the perfect punishment for you. If you were conscious and capable of such a thing, you'd have LOVED to inflict such a fate unto me…And this will be a perfect bit of foreshadowing for what I plan to do to you, Justek Arcavira!" Alex then swung his left hand up and had the chains pull Joe Dark back to the planet, slamming him against it and undoing the chains.

But Joe Dark wasn't even given a chance to get away as Alex quickly sped down to Venus and slammed his fist right into Joe Dark's body, holding the Gaia Temporis in the other hand as he widened his eyes with the utmost joy on his face and watched as Joe Dark's body crashed into the surface of Venus and sent rocks flying up around him. Alex switched the hand the Gaia Temporis was grasped in with his thoughts and punched Joe Dark with his other hand, this time putting a heavy amount of flames into his punch.

A shockwave of fire rips up the surface around Joe Dark's location, throwing the broken up rocks upward before Alex switches off to the other fist again and punches, creating a gigantic shockwave of fire that annihilates the rocks. Alex repeats this process a few more times, burying Joe Dark deeper into the planet while tearing through this beastly body. After a little bit of time though, Alex quickly activates the Gaia Temporis and uses it to reverse the damage he's put on Joe Dark just for the sole purpose of starting all over again with even harder hitting punches.

By the time Alex has done this cycle three times, he has torn apart a massive chunk of the planet and still kept going, laughing all the while as his eyes glowed brightly and the aura of fire continued to grow around him. As he did all this to Joe Dark, Alex could only think of one thing, a memory etched into his mind that was quite recent. And this memory fueled his anger…

 _Weeks ago, Alex Whiter floated in the middle of space with his arms swung out, the Gaia Temporis grasped in his right hand. He laughed and remarked to himself quietly "Yes…Justek Arcavira…All I have to do to free him is…Yes, yes…It's so simple, and I can make that traitor's people suffer as well. Then all I have to do after that is go after that foolish replica of mine…" "Alex Whiter, we need to talk." A familiar and wise voice calls out to Alex, making him pause the conversation to himself for a moment._

 _Time and space distorted as Alex turned around and was brought to a completely blank realm, and floating above him was a glowing sphere of light that acted as the spirit of the original Elemental Overlord. Alex glared at the spirit as it descended down in front of him, commenting with a bit of a sneer on his face "Oh, so now you want to talk…After you refused to speak to me for three years until the 'higher-ups' called you out! And then like a coward you chose to speak out against me!"_

 _The Elemental Overlord remarked quietly "Now you can't truly be thinking that what I did was wrong. Are you meaning to say that I should have stayed silent after you abused the powers I gave you to bring an end to the Marvel Universe?" Alex Whiter exclaimed "What I did was right, damn it! That universe deserved to die! And you heard the 'higher-ups'…They were going to destroy that universe regardless, they just chose to use ME as their damn scapegoat!"_

" _You know…I am not speaking to you, Phoenix of Destruction, I wish to speak with the real Alex Whiter, not some manifestation of his darkness and rage against the universe." The original Elemental Overlord commented, and Alex grinned and said "I AM the real Alex Whiter. This is what I always have been. Now tell me, how could you be so stupid as to defend those 'higher-ups' after all the crimes they admitted to?!"_

" _That's not the point here. This has nothing to do with them…Once more, you're pinning the blame on others instead of yourself…I'm giving you one last chance here. Stop this insanity, do not go through with what you are planning to do." Alex swung his hands in front of his chest and exclaimed with a look of madness on his face "I AM DOING WHAT YOU WANTED ME TO! I'm punishing the damn wicked of this universe, I'm bringing an end to this charade that 'higher-ups' have allowed to go on! I am destroying everything to save it all, all because you spent the greater of two-thousands forcing yourself to stay in a prison of your own design because you were too much of an impassive retard to stand up for yourself! You failed everyone! You don't deserve your damn legacy! I'm succeeding where YOU failed, Elemental Overlord!"_

 _The last part of Alex's sentence is punctuated by him brandishing a finger angrily at the spirit of the Elemental Overlord, who just floated there for a few seconds before letting out a tired sigh and remarking "…So that's how this is then. For what I said to the 'higher-ups', I was more than willing to overlook what you did if you just admitted to your wrong-doings and understood the severity of it all…But you're too far gone, aren't you? It is quite a shame really…Perhaps I shouldn't have based the prophecy off what would possibly be an unstable child. I made it clear what would happen to you if you did wrong with my powers…"_

 _The Elemental Overlord turned around and began to float away, and Alex grit his teeth and exclaimed "How dare you! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!" As the Elemental Overlord's spirit slowly faded from sight, he remarked to Alex bluntly "Be a destroyer if you wish, but you will never do so as a Phoenix again. Now if you wish to pursue your foolish, foolish goal, then you will fail…That much I swear by."_

As the memories of that moment ended for Alex Whiter, he remarked to himself in the present "I am the Phoenix of Destruction…I don't need that form to prove that to anyone! I am beyond all mortals, beyond all gods and demons!" Alex Whiter finished one hard punch to break through Joe Dark's beastly skin and reach his human body inside, at which point Alex stood atop his beastly body and swung his arms out beside himself, the entirety of Venus shaking as he coated his arms heavily in the hottest flames he could muster.

With his face gripped with absolute anger and madness as he widened his eyes, Alex exclaimed "I don't need anyone but myself to accomplish this necessary task! Past, present, future, I don't give a damn about any of it anymore! I will burn it ALL down, for I have the power, the drive, everything necessary to do what all other spineless cowards in this damn universe could not bring themselves to do! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" With that maniacal laughter, Alex brings both of his fists right down against Joe Dark's human body, but put in all of his strength into this punch.

The end result was that the flames dug themselves right into the planet's crust, burning through the entirety of the world and filling Venus' surface with glowing cracks of magma that encompasses the entire planet in a matter of seconds. As a pillar of fire erupts from the hole Alex punched Joe Dark into, Venus itself explodes, creating a gigantic blast that vibrates the depths of space around it as large chunks of the planet disintegrate from the might of Alex's flames. Any stray rocks that escaped the pull of Alex's strength would then fly out and wander the depths of space for an unknown amount of time.

What little of Venus remained was what Alex was standing on after his attack, with an incredibly battered Joe Dark grasped into his right hand, removed from his Phantom Beast form with the rings removed from around his eyes. The hypnosis Alex mentioned was broken at this point, and even after all Alex did Joe Dark was still slowly healing up thanks to the darkness within him. Alex raised his other hand up and set it aflame, aiming to cleave the boy's head from his body. But after a momentary pause, Alex grinned and said "You know…Forget it."

Without a care in the world, Alex threw Joe Dark's body down against the solitary rock below the one he stood on. Alex then remarked "I can't think of no better punishment for you than to die knowing all too well that you will never, ever have found satisfaction in your life…That all of your petty revenge against me was pointless. Yes…That's a more fitting punishment than any death I could give you. But Justek…I know you've been watching this whole…"

Alex then turns his head around and looks towards the sun in the far off distance, remarking with an absolute grin on his face "And now that I'm done wasting time on your puppet, you have an iota of an idea about the pain I will inflict upon that body of yours. The time is coming Justek, and so am I!" Alex then kicks off the rock he was on and rockets off towards the sun, while his thoughts continued to be drenched in absolute madness…

 _Next Time: Riku's Struggle_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Puppets of Reality and Chaos**

Leaving Alex Whiter behind, as much as he didn't want to, Riku followed Mew and Kairi through the depths of space towards the sun, where Justek seems to be waiting for them at. Kairi is riding on Mew's back since she's not normally fast enough to keep up with their speed, and there was a sphere of air around the three of them so they could keep talking in the cold depths of space. As they made their way to the sun, Riku was glancing at Mew from behind as he was in the middle of conversing with Kairi.

As much as he hated it, Riku was actually thinking about what Alex said regarding his brother. Mew might not be strong enough to make a difference against Justek. He could barely defeat Alex in their earlier battle, and while Alex was able to handle Solaris there's no telling just how strong him and Lunis are compared to their father. _"And Mew doesn't have a Chaos Form to his name…Why is that brother? You have the means of making it possible, so why not?"_ Riku thought to himself while lowering his eyebrows.

After letting out a quiet sigh, Riku thought to himself _"Maybe it would be best if you went back to the Earth, just to stay safe until Justek is defeated. But then again, how exactly could I convince you to ever go back to Earth?"_ It was quite the dilemma, and it made Riku a little nervous or stressed out to think about this on top of just what Justek had up his sleeve. And soon enough, that man would make it so the three would be split up, and who knows just who would be sent away first.

"Mew, Kairi, I want to ask you guys something." Riku wanted to try something out before they reached the next barrier, and Mew and Kairi both glanced back with Mew remarking with his eyebrows raised "Yeah Riku?" Riku raised his arms up and commented "Did either of you detect who Alex would be fighting on Venus?"

Kairi commented "Well…No, actually. I didn't bother trying, mind you, but I don't think I'd be able to figure out who it was, especially if it was Solaris or Lunis. You know, I kind of wonder if Aurian Venus is ok…" Mew widened his eyes a bit and stated "Oh yeah, Maria. Geez…I feel sorry for her, now Alex is going to be fighting on her planet. I wonder if she was still there…"

"Gabriel said he was going to try and organize the Planetary Aurians, so I doubt she's anywhere on the planet at the moment, thankfully." Kairi commented, and Riku quickly interrupted the two's conversation by bluntly commenting "The point I'm trying to get at here is I'm wondering if Justek is going to force us to fight his children again or someone else entirely. The problem here though is that there was four of us and only three of them. If he IS splitting us up one by one, then that just leaves one spot open."

Mew scratched the side of his head and commented "Come to think about it…We've never learned who that herald of Justek is, right? You know, the person whose defeat led to his second seal being broken." Riku quickly "That person has to be dead though for the seal to have come undone. It'd be interesting to know who that herald was, but it's likely too late now. I'm just planning ahead here so we could stand a chance of being ready for any surprises from Justek's side."

"We'll handle whatever he sends out way, just like we have so far." Kairi confidently said, and Mew looked at her and said "Hey, I was going to say that…" Kairi let out an awkward chuckle and said to Mew "Ummm…Yeah, I should have let you have that, shouldn't I? Heheheh…" From the way Kairi spoke, Riku had the impression that she was worried about Mew handling what's up ahead.

" _Maybe I should speak up before it's too late…Damn it, how can I handle this matter?"_ Riku's conundrum would be interrupted when all of a sudden, rather close to the sun, another barrier got in the way. Riku was held back, and Mew immediately felt that and stopped flying so his brother wouldn't get pulled out away from the sphere of air. Riku widened his eyes and looked up as static appeared on the front of the barrier, with Justek once more coming forth and remarking _"You're making swift progress. I must commend you all for taking this matter seriously. But now, once more, you must be split apart. I suppose it's not too hard to guess just who has to depart this time around…Is that not right, Phoenix of Balance?"_

Riku floated upright before the barrier and folded his arms together, commenting to Justek boldly "You can split us apart, but we're just going to get back together and confront you eventually. So why bother with this?" Justek laughed a tiny bit at that, not out of mockery but rather that he was genuinely humored by Riku's words. In a slightly clearer voice, Justek remarked _"I must admit, I'm humored that you'd point that out to me. Yes, I suppose from a certain standpoint, this would seem pointless…."_

" _But then again, am I not built up to be your strongest opponent thus far? The grandest of villains, connected to the past of the Elemental Overlord, Dark King and the Aurians…Responsible for many of the actions that have occurred in the present, in a sense of the word, and an enigma wrapped in the grandest of mysteries…Your lives have been leading up to this moment whether you've been aware of it or not, and I suppose you could say I'm just letting myself have a little fun with my purpose in this grand narrative the 'higher-ups' have strung together for the four of you. A culmination of all things the three Elemental Overlords and the scion of Lady Auris have seen and done, if you would prefer me to say."_

After Justek's long-winded speech was at an end, Mew and Kairi were left looking a bit confused while Riku closed his eyelids slightly and said "Well if you're going to treat this as a narrative, then we already know the ending that's going to be written. You're going to be stopped, we'll succeed where the original Elemental Overlord failed." Justek laughed again and commented _"Personally, I am greatly anticipating such a moment. Can you prove to me that you have the power to defy the words already written on that grandest of stones? But for now…I suppose I should stop stalling you and tell you that your particular opposition is waiting for you on the planet Mercury. I wish for you and your two allies to not worry about the sun's heat, as I had my dear son Solaris kindly lower it's surface temperature so it will not burn or blind you."_

"How generous of you…" Riku says, veering on the side of cautious as he loosely complimented Justek's actions. _"Mew, Kairi, you are to go to the other side of the sun. My ship will be there waiting for you both to enter. When you and Alex are done with your battles, you may come to the ship as well, Riku. Just try not to destroy the ship from the outside, I am making it clear now before you attempt such a thing. I worked pretty hard to make this ship perfect for our battle."_

The static screen goes away suddenly afterwards, with Riku lowering his head to look at Mew and Kairi from behind the barrier. "I'll catch up with you guys soon enough, just be careful out there. You especially, brother." Riku said, and Mew smiled and remarked "We'll be fine! Just don't go destroying Mercury by accident, it's not as durable as the Earth is." Mew commented, and Riku just chuckled a little and said "I should be fine on that end. Take care."

Riku then turns towards Mercury, which was barely visible on this side of the sun, and flew off as fast as he could while Mew was carrying Kairi in the opposite direction per Justek's instructions. Riku clenched his fists tightly and then drew his sword in front of his body, knowing that whoever he was going to fight would be a difficult opponent, and he quickly changed to his Chaos Form to increase his speed and make it to Mercury in a matter of seconds.

Riku lands on the surface of the planet and draws both his diamond katana and hooked dagger, swinging them out beside himself before stepping forward and looking up at the sun, which could not blind him per Solaris' changes. The sun was quite beautiful, with waves of heat lashing out from the surface. It's size was almost impossible to comprehend from this close, and Riku commented to himself "It's stuff like this that makes one feel really small in the universe…And perhaps that's a good thing. I would never want to lose my way by thinking I'm grander than I actually am."

Riku looked on ahead and cautiously gripped his weapons as a vortex open up and someone began to float through it, their body obscured in a fainted shadow for just a moment. Riku widened his eyes though when he saw the familiar face of Mr. Reality, the limbless, brown-headed and caped alien that was capable of bending reality to his whim. "You…? You've allied yourself with Justek?" The alien did not respond to Riku's question, and he had a ring around his one eye along with a faint black look in his irises. The alien raised a hand up and snapped it's fingers, and another, much larger vortex opened behind him.

Riku leaned forward slightly and thought to himself _"What's going on here…Why does he look so off? And why am I fighting him now of all times…?"_ But Riku's thoughts were quickly interrupted as two gigantic creatures emerged from the vortexes, both of them tragically quite familiar to Riku. One was a titanic black dragon with human-like red eyes and a belt wrapped around his waist with a triangular bladed sword in the hilt on his right side. The second being was a more slender and lengthy white dragon complete with sleek scales and golden fur that stretched back quite a bit from the back of it's eyelids.

The white dragon floated around the waist of the black dragon as he stood on the planet behind Mr. Reality, and Riku looked absolutely devastated to see them there. He let out a murmur of "Sodenko…? Takashi…?" Referring to the names of the white and black dragon respectively, who for a year were his traveling companions. They too shared the same rings around their eyes that Mr. Reality did, and Riku quickly exclaimed "What's going on here?! Why are you two here now?!"

But once more there was no response…Just a completely lifeless glare came towards Riku from the eyes of the dragons, and from there Riku was able to piece everything together instantly. "Damn it all…Justek must have somehow mind-controlled all three of you to his side. But then that means…" More details were put into Riku's head, as he quickly realized that if Mr. Reality was being controlled by Justek, then the alien's abilities had to have been used to create those barriers that prevented him and his brother from changing forms. More than likely, the alien's powers were also used to bring those beings here from other timelines.

"But to control a reality-warper…Justek, is this what you meant by testing me? That you would see if I would be frightened by this development or not?" Riku says, with him quickly clenching the handles of his weapons as his hands trembled slightly, firmly gritting his teeth and exclaiming "Well I'm not! I'm only angry at you for doing this to my friends! I will free them from your control, and then you will pay for this! They have nothing to do with this fight, Justek Arcavira!"

Riku swung his katana around a bit while putting his dagger away for the moment, and then he charged up to full power, swinging his angelic and demonic wings out wide while glaring at Mr. Reality in particular and thinking to himself _"But I will take you out first…I remember how dangerous you can be."_ Riku charges forward and tries to take a swing at Mr. Reality, but the alien's body breaks down into cubes and moves away from the range of Riku's katana as he steps down on the ground in front of where he used to be.

While Riku was surprised by how quickly Mr. Reality's reacted, Takashi drew his sword from his belt and swung it down at the ground, very nearly grazing Riku as he send off a wave of violet darkness that tears through the surface of Mercury and puts a decent sized canyon into it. Sodenko stops floating to the left of her brother and opens her mouth, releasing a radiant beam of pearl light in such a concise form that it slices right through the planet and emerges from the other side right as Riku flies back to avoid it.

If he let that attack strike him, Riku would've been pierced through regardless of the strength of his body or armor. Riku swings his katana upward while flying back to send a couple waves of light out at Sodenko's face, striking her and making her head lurch back, though the damage was minimal due to her element. Mr. Reality then reformed behind Riku and enlarged his floating hands so he'd be able to force Riku to stay in place as he grabs him quickly. Riku swung his arms around in his grasp to break free as he knew he could do so, but Takashi took his sword grasped in both hands and swung it down with all of his might towards Riku.

Riku wriggled his fingers open and summoned back his dagger, giving it just enough of a tug upward to rip open a gap into darkness that he could slip down into before Mr. Reality could detect it. Takashi is able to strike the ground and send forth a gigantic cascading blast of darkness that covered miles of the planet and space, and some of it managed to break through to the dimension that Riku was hiding within, surprising him for just a moment. Mr. Reality got out of the way by breaking apart into cubes again, but he then shrunk his form down to quickly slip into the remains of the gap Riku used.

Riku thought he could take a break and gather his thoughts on how to handle this, but Mr. Reality quickly returned to his normal self and swung his right hand out, enlarging it enough to grab Riku by the back of his head and push him forward, using his powers to break through the wall between reality and the dark realm and bring Riku back out before the boy let go of his dagger and used his mental connection to it to pierce Mr. Reality's hand in order to make him back off. But by then Takashi and Sodenko were already standing head to head with their mouths open and filled with darkness and light respectively.

They released separate beams that spiraled and merged together into a gigantic one, but this time Riku grabbed both of his weapons and swung them forward, letting go so they could strike the center of the two dragon's attack and drill against it, diverting the light and darkness away to other parts of the planet's surface, causing miniature craters to be made with each impact. Mr. Reality, however, quickly halts Riku's efforts by forcing the weapons through a gap, giving Riku no choice but to leap back out of the way and swing his arms out to pull the weapons back to his grasp before they would be sealed away.

The beam ravages the surface of Mercury further, and Riku thinks to himself with a brief gritting of his teeth _"So much for keeping this planet together…"_ He then forces himself to the ground in an instant behind Mr. Reality and swings his katana outward, just missing the alien and only cutting a part of his cape off as he rearranges into cubes again. _"That's fine…"_ Riku thinks to himself as his face looked firm with determination, and while Mr. Reality was briefly out of the picture Riku took the momentum from his katana's swing and fired off a massive blast of light towards Takashi.

Sodenko flew before her brother and curled up, brightening the area around her body to absorb the light Riku attacked with. But Riku paused the light inches away from Sodenko's body and then leaped forward at light speed, pushing through the light while drawing his dagger out, slashing forward at Sodenko's body as hard as he could to create a massive gash in front of him that rips through Sodenko's holy barrier and manages to draw blue blood from behind some of the dragon's scales.

Riku grimaced as he dealt such a damaging blow, thinking to himself as he closed his eyelids and felt Sodenko drop towards the ground _"I-I'm sorry…"_ Sodenko let out a pained shriek that was very unlike her, sounding more like a beast than that of an actual sentient being, and Takashi let out a guttural roar as he quickly tried to slash Riku with his sword. Riku rose over the blade, but Takashi kept swinging it around wildly to try and hit Riku, but he was fast enough to keep out of the way of each strike, even against such a large blade.

"Takashi still has instincts to protect his sister…This is just painful to watch, but I'll knock you free from Justek's control soon-" As Riku got out of the range of Takashi's blade and raised his hand up, he was quickly struck along the right side of his body by a blast of pure light from below, which dealt a bit of damage and directed his attention towards the surface, where he finds that Mr. Reality has used his powers to patch Sodenko up and allow her to fight against at full strength. Riku withdrew back as fast as he could as Sodenko and Takashi both filled the area with a rain of light and darkness beams in all directions, keeping Riku from approaching them for the time being. Riku draws his katana and throws it straight at Mr. Reality's head, winding it around the lasers faster than the speed of light.

He suspected the alien would dodge it even with his head turned away, and the theory was right as Mr. Reality broke apart into cubes right before the katana reached him. This confirmed a theory for Riku, and as he teleported the katana back into his grasp he thought _"So that's it…Justek is able to control their actions by seeing through all of their eyes at the same time. This level of coordination is impressive, but comes with it's one flaw…"_ Mr. Reality tries to form back up behind Riku, but Riku grinned a bit as he quickly summoned forth dozens of chains of light and darkness with a thought to wrap up Mr. Reality's hands and feet, then proceeded to trap Mr. Reality's main body inside of a gigantic sphere of both elements radiating out from the links in each chain.

Riku then pulled Mr. Reality to the ground and remarked "Now you can't get yourself out without trying a different trick, and that gives me time to do this..." Sodenko rose up from the ground and flew around her brother rapidly enough to create a ring of light, and after Takashi raised his arms up Sodenko fired a few of these gigantic rings out towards Riku. Riku grabs his katana tightly in both hands and flies at the rings, grinding the length of his blade against the side of one of them to make the light his own and throw the ring back, aiming specifically for Takashi's face.

Sodenko rises up to block the attack, but in doing so gives Riku time to pierce the front of another ring and flip himself through the air to get above the two dragons, and as Mr. Reality cuts open the sphere he was trapped in by turning the front of his helmet into a sharp blade Riku uses the ring of light to unleash a gigantic pillar of energy upon both dragons. He put everything he got into attacking the two dragons with light, and even Sodenko's resistance to that did little to help her out with how much Riku was attacking them with.

Both dragons let out a hollow roar until Mr. Reality broke his hands free by using his powers to slice apart the chains with invisible and then enlarged his hands to be able to block Riku's attack once he warped them over. Riku pulls away the ring of light and absorbs it into his blade, and while the two dragon's sight and blocked for a moment from the damage they took, he turned around and rapidly swung his blade out to send hundreds of crescents of light at Mr. Reality. The alien warped his gigantic hands out in front of him to block the attacks, but this just cut off his vision of Riku at the moment.

Riku then cut through the darkness with his dagger and slipped out of sight perfectly, flying through the realm until he knew he was behind Mr. Relaity, at which point he slipped out through a gap and swung his right hand out upon dispelling both of his weapons. He grabbed Mr. Reality by the back of his helmet and gave him no time to escape as he quickly threw him against the ground with a hard slam, uprooting parts of the planet's surface with a spiky explosion of light and darkness. The destruction spreads out for at least a mile, but Riku knew he had no choice but to take out Mr. Reality as quickly as he could.

And thankfully, Riku had managed that task with just that single attack, as the battlefield settled for a moment and Mr. Reality lied buried under the rubble made from Riku's attack, his head turned to the side and the ring taken off from around his eye. Riku then leaped over Mr. Reality and floated in mid-air, drawing his weapons as the two dragons recovered from the earlier attack and recognized Mr. Reality's defeat. But their energy just spiked, with Sodenko giving a nod to Takashi as both flared up their respective elements around their body, with Sodenko spinning around like a ring in front of her brother in a matter of seconds.

Sodenko wraps the light around Takashi's body in an enveloping cocoon, and Riku widened his eyes and exclaimed "Sodenko, Takashi, stop!" knowing just what those two were about to become. Sodenko vanished, becoming one with the light she created as the cocoon rapidly grew in size, with Mercury trembling immensely as the power of the two's combined form leaked out from the cocoon, which shattered moments later. Left hovering beyond the planet was a dragon that towered beyond it's two halves combined, the scale being so grand that one claw tip was bigger than Riku.

It's build was similar to Takashi, but was now wearing a black and white gradient armor that had a distorted face with fangs and eyes, and his legs and feet were now covered with a loose grey chain mail. The dragon's face had white scales, the body had them grey, and the legs had them black. The weapon in the grasp of his right claw was the triangular bladed sword with a three-jeweled scepter at the bottom, each one sharing a color with the scales on it's body. Even now, the dragon had the same rings around it's eyes as before, which was honestly a little more worrisome on Riku's end than this new dragon's presence.

"Even the Lord of Chaos is being controlled by Justek…Back then, I couldn't defeat you both in this form, and I know how strong you guys truly are…That battle against Thanos proved it. But I won't be able to free you from Justek's control unless I do win, so I will not stop until my body is gone!" Riku says, standing strong against the mighty dragon with both his weapons drawn. The Lord of Chaos swings the staff out in front of him and fires off a barrage of light spheres from the appropriate jewel.

They came out so fast that Riku didn't have time to blink before he swung his palms forward and coated them in light to break apart the spheres before they struck him, followed by him sending his own barrage of light and dark spheres up at the mighty dragon's chest. But the armor swallowed up the attacks with little effort, and the mouth glowed and fired off a massive laser that combined all the energy from the spheres together. To protect Mercury from destruction, Riku had to fly up towards the beam and cover himself in a gigantic barrier of light and darkness that was half as big as the circumference of the beam.

Riku swirled the barrier around clockwise to make pushing against the beam easier, all the while building up strength in his right fist so he could throw it forward with a hard enough punch to strike the front of the beam and shatter the rest of it apart. The pressure from the beam did disrupt Mercury's surface slightly, but otherwise it remained perfectly intact. Riku then charged as fast as he could to get in front of the Lord of Chaos' body, flying around it's armor and swinging his weapons around in a violent blur to slice into it as best as he could.

The dragon reacts by opening a series of dark rifts and sending out piercing beams of light across the front of his body to intercept Riku, the beams moving fast enough to cut through Riku's wings and parts of his armor by the time he finished attacking the Lord of Chaos. Riku then lands on the beast's shoulder and swings his weapons around to deflect the beams coming out in front of him, then swings his right arm behind him and spins his katana to deflect the light beams coming his way from behind.

But he cannot destroy the beams, and they curve back around upon being deflected and merging together to create a stronger force capable of overwhelming Riku's defenses and strike the hand holding his katana in place. This brief distraction forced Riku to let go of his katana and get overwhelmed by the light from behind before he could properly protect himself with light from his body, and the beams of darkness start assaulting him from the front as well, culminating in an explosion of both elements that throws Riku off the dragon's shoulder with battered armor and a grisly look on his face.

He looks up and sees the Lord of Chaos raising his gigantic sword into the air while flames of light and darkness coated the blade perfectly, the flames appearing brighter than even the sun in it's current state. Riku swung his arms out beside himself and created a gigantic seal of light behind his body, summoning forth a massive sword that pierces upward and nicks the Lord of Chaos on the wrist, and though blood is drawn from the cut it only slows the descent of his massive sword. Riku widened his eyes and then summoned twenty more seals, summoning a blade through each of them of radiant light and blackening darkness, sending them all in the path of the gigantic sword.

The energy blades clash against the flames of the Lord of Chaos's sword, counteracting it's power equally and causing the flames to shatter as the energy blades slowly break apart from forcing themselves to keep up against the gigantic blade. Riku holds his position, gliding in mid-air with his arms swung out as gigantic waves of pure pressure lashed out towards him. But needless to say Riku is able to force a gigantic explosion from the clash of blades that pushes the sword back and gives him just enough time to fly backwards before the dragon could bring the sword down all the way.

The tip of the blade slams against the surface of Mercury and slices through hundreds of miles of the planet from sheer force, with the dragon spreading his mighty wings out as he leaned forward. Riku kept his distance away from the Lord of Chaos and panted slightly, grinning a bit before commenting "I-I see there's still a pretty good gap between us while I'm in this form. The problem isn't just your strength though, but your size…" Riku gulped a bit of saliva and then stood upright, staring directly at the Lord of Chaos' massive eyes as the dragon pulled the sword from the planet and opened it's mouth, the tips of his wings glowing brightly as they focused energy towards the front of his mouth.

Riku raised his right hand up and concentrated as hard as he could on all elements while thinking to himself _"But if I can focus all of my power onto a single weak point…That should be enough to end this. I just have to knock you unconscious, even if it means I have to reveal this form to Justek prematurely…"_ Golden flames emerge from the tip of Riku's fingers and spreads out to the rest of his body, slowing transforming him again into a different form. Everything that was a part of his Chaos Form was burned away and replaced with something new.

Mercury trembles from the pressure Riku was exuding as he gained a spiritual robe with colors on it that represented the nine elements, but they were on in a vibrant, hazy manner. Two scrolls were draped over his shoulders, and around him was a purely holy aura with the intensity of a newborn sun with a border of slight darkness around them. His hair became pure silver, and along with angelic and demonic wings Riku had gained a pair of Phoenix wings too, all of them glistening gold. His irises glowed with a rainbow neon glow, and Riku looked absolutely calm now.

"It's alright you guys…I'll free you from his control now." Riku said, and the very moment the Lord of Chaos fires off their absolutely massive beam of light and darkness Riku thrusts forward so fast that he completely disintegrated the beam from impact while simultaneously punching the dragon right in the center of his chest. A shockwave of raw power shakes through the Lord of Chaos' body, the armor shattering apart as the dragon's eyes widen and the entire depths of space around them trembled, with a part of the sun behind the Lord of Chaos parting in a circle from the shockwaves of Riku's strength, even from this distance.

Riku holds his fist against the dragon's chest until he could tell that his attack managed to throw the mighty beast unconscious, and he began to fall forward while glowing. Riku pulls back as the Lord of Chaos splits apart into it's two halves, both of which collapse down atop the surface of Mercury, absolutely drained of their energy but still alive as Riku made sure to hold back that much of his Genesis Form's strength. Riku teleports down between both of the dragons and looks closely at their eyes, noticing that the rings are gone around them.

Riku let out a sigh of relief, and then swung his hands out and gave both dragons just enough energy to be able to wake up later. He then got out of his Genesis Form before his sheer, unrestrained power would affect Mercury. But the very moment he broke out of it, Riku felt a sharp pain in his chest and went to grasp it with his right hand, leaning forward before panting and remarking "Even…A short burst like that was taxing…But now you two are alright…" Riku looks back and forth at the faces of the two dragons and smiled, remembering the year they spent together and saying afterwards "You guys…When this is over with…We'll have to see each other again…This isn't the best time though."

Riku turned to look at the sun over his shoulder, and then with him clenching his fist tightly against his chest he murmured "Justek Arcavira…No matter what you say, I'm sick of you playing us all like puppets. We aren't players in your game, we're all people with our own goals and dreams. Whatever your ambitions are, I will stop you…I will stop the Phoenix of Destruction. No matter what threats are posed in front of me, I will defend the future for everyone else, especially my brother. So prepare yourself, for I am coming for you now, Justek!" After catching his breath, Riku leaped off the planet and made a swift flight towards the other side of the sun where Justek's ship would be.

 _Next Time: Farewell to our Future Love_


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: The Gravity Herald I: One Against Eight**

With Riku left behind, it was just Mew and Kairi going off around the side of the sun to find Justek's ship. Kairi kept holding on to Mew's back so they could move at a relatively decent speed, but even so it took a few minutes before they finally noticed something poking out. It was a massive white ship, one probably as big as Mercury itself. It had an odd spherical design with some blobby jets and a series of pulsating red and black panels spread about it that turn on and off at random. There appeared to be a gigantic circular area on the back of the ship covered in a glass dome that it unaffected even by the sun's lowered temperature.

In fact, any solar flares lashing out from the sun just fade out of existence as it hits the ship, and the depths of space around the ship distort in an eerie manner. "What an odd ship…" Mew commented, and Kairi nodded her head and remarked a moment later "I-I don't like the looks of it…It's odd to feel an aura coming from a ship of all things, and not only that but this place has a very distorted aura to it. But we have to go to it, don't we?"

"Justek said he's there, so yes. We'll stay cautious for any traps, but Justek seems more focused on separating us than using any normal traps against us." Mew commented as he floated in the middle of space for a moment before looking over his shoulder at Kairi, putting on a confident grin before he said "So are you ready? We're almost at the end of this horrid battle against Justek and his army."

Kairi paused for a moment, and even with her chest in the way Mew could feel the frantic beat of her heart against the back of his body. Mew blinks a couple times and closes his eyelids in a melancholic manner, realizing that Kairi has been through a lot today. Mew thus raised his eyelids back up and commented "Kairi, I-" "Mew…Remember how this day started?" Kairi said in a quiet and solemn tone.

Mew blinked a couple times and then nodded his head with an affirmative hum, and then Kairi said as she slightly wrapped her arms around Mew's body more than before "We were having fun…It was a nice day out, we were going to go somewhere for relaxation. The most I had to worry about was studying for post-summer schoolwork…And then we've both been dragged into all this. I-I just want to go back to relaxing Mew…I don't want to have to worry about my people, or my mother…"

"You and I will have earned a break from everything after this Kairi, but we first have to make one last push to stop Justek." Mew commented, and with a grin on her face Kairi lightened up slightly and said in a relaxed but somewhat teasing tone "I'm going to be holding you to that, Mew…You'll have to take me to the beach or something." Mew grinned a bit and said "Yeah I suppose that's fair."

Mew then looked towards Justek's ship, and with a firm glare at the same time as Kairi gives one Mew exclaims "Lets finish this together!" and he kicks forward and charges straight towards the ship, aiming for the lone platform at the front that had the only door on this entire ship. This door was rounded with a swirl on it, and as Mew gets in front of it the door warps apart to open. Inside, the ship was completely white, with nothing in the way of electronics, not even wires or electric circuits embedded in the walls.

The only thing that made the ship look like more than a pure white expanse were the thin black lines representing the tiles and each step of the staircase on the other side of this entrance room. Kairi gets off Mew's back at that point and the two walk side-by-side through the entrance room, waiting cautiously for any words from Justek. The only other thing in this small room was a door to the left that was like the one they just entered through, only this one was black and had a few sparkles to resemble the stars of space itself.

Kairi looked at that door while Mew looked at the staircase, commenting in a puzzled tone "Where do we go from here?" Mew had his suspicions and turned to the door Kairi was looking at, and as he walked towards it he raised his right hand up and ended up laying it against a barrier that wavered as it felt Mew's palm resting against it. Kairi widened her eyes and then looked to the right, walking forward to lay a hand out against another barrier near the front of the staircase, and it became clear just what Mew had figured out. "So this is where we must split up, huh…?" Kairi said in a melancholic tone.

"One last challenge for us both before we have to face Justek, I figure…" Mew said, and not even a second after he was done saying that Justek chimed in through some form of speakers set up in this room, commenting in his distorted voice yet again _"Indeed it is. You lovers must part for now, and only when or if you complete the challenges beyond the door and staircase respectively can you have any hope of gathering at the final destination to face me. The time for showing doubts and hesitations has long past, so I urge you both to make the proper strides towards the endgame of this battle of ours. Again, I await the moment where we shall truly meet face-to-face."_

Justek left immediately after that, leaving Kairi and Mew to look at other with a puzzled look in their eyes, and Mew shrugged and said "You heard the man, lets not waste any time." Mew began to walk for the staircase, but before he passed the barrier line Kairi swung her left hand out and grabbed Mew by his right arm to stop him. "Hold on a second Mew…" Kairi commented, and Mew turned slightly towards her and saw the look of concern on her face complete with her bitterly biting her lower lip.

"Y-You know what Justek is up to here…Slowly, one by one…H-He's…" Mew interrupted Kairi quickly by telling her "He's been separating me from everyone that's stronger than I, isn't he?" Kairi widened her eyes and was shocked that Mew would easily admit such a thing. Mew then nods his head a little and laughs, telling Kairi a moment later as she lets go of his arm "Alex is stronger than me, you're stronger than me…Hell, I think it's possible that Riku is stronger than me now and he's just been hiding that strength to try and not hurt my feelings. Heh, I knew Riku was trying to bring this up before we split up, but yeah…"

"Then you know why I'm worried, right? Justek is just taking advantage of his stupid barriers to make sure he singles you out and kills you once you get to him!" Kairi exclaimed in a very concerned tone. Mew glances aside his shoulder and remarks "Maybe that is his plan. Maybe it's not. He seemed pretty adamant about the fact that all four of us would eventually reach him." "Villains are liars Mew, of course he'd say that to try and let out guard down." Kairi remarked while clenching a hand against her chest.

"Well he's not very good at that then. I'll be cautious enough, don't worry about it." Mew said with a grin on his face, but the slight chuckle he gave showed that he wasn't fully confident in his own words. Kairi just stepped forward slightly and with an arm swung out she exclaimed "Damn it Mew, you can't go! Stay here and wait for me to finish off whoever is behind this door and we can fight Justek together!"

"I'm sure it doesn't work like that Kairi." Mew calmly pointed out, and Kairi swung her head down and grit her teeth before looking Mew straight in the eyes and telling him "Then I'll just have to make sure you'll survive. So promise me that you'll make it through this alive, alright Mew?" Mew widened his eyes slightly and after a couple blinks he pulled his head back slightly and let out a lighthearted laugh "Hahaha, you've got me figured out pretty well Kairi…"

Mew then wiped a tear off of his right eye and said "Now that you're making me promise to stay alive, I have no choice but to keep it. Is there anything else you want to say though before we split up?" Kairi shook her head in response but had a sly smile on her face, and Mew nodded his head, obviously to her intentions until she suddenly leaned forward and took her hands to Mew's cheeks and gave him a firm kiss on the lips. Mew just let her do that and went along with the kiss as well for a few seconds before she pulled away.

With a blush on her face, Kairi brushed aside the right part of her hair as Mew commented "You know, I should be a little more forward myself someday. You've initiated both of our kisses so far…" Kairi smiled and said "Then that's something I will look forward to after we make it out of this…Good luck Mew, and be safe." "The same goes for you, but I feel I don't have much to worry about." Mew said, and then he turned around and ran for the staircase.

Kairi was left alone as she laid a hand against her chest and then turned for the door, slowly approaching it as it swirled open, leading to a winding staircase revealing itself beyond it. Kairi then clenched her fists tightly and ran up the staircase, which curved around the outer edge of the ship, with windows opening up occasionally to reveal the depths of space outside. But Kairi just ignored it and kept running, going farther and father up and into the ship until she eventually ran into another door like the one she saw before. There was nowhere to go except through this very door, but Kairi just glared at it and laid a hand close to her bracelet before the door opened up.

Inside was a wide-open room perfect for fighting in, a long and curved window at the end of the room for observing the space and the side of the sun, and a domed ceiling above of which there was no way to escape through it. The door sealed behind Kairi and became one with the wall, and the only other thing in this room was someone standing in front of the window that Kairi couldn't see clearly from this far away. Cautiously, she walked closer to that person, and noticed first of all that they had a tattered green cape with golden trim and a particular emblem on the back of it.

Kairi paused for a moment with widened eyes and then continued walking close until the person in question slowly held their arms out away from their body, revealing that they have pointed metallic fingers and wield a glowing green energy scythe. Said person then remarked in a deep but subdued voice "And just how are you doing, my dear, dear daughter?" The voice and the man's appearance made Kairi freeze in place, shaking her head slightly as she stepped back and remarked "I-It's not possible! You should be dead!"

"Hmm…So I suppose any hopes for a simple conversation to start things off was just a pipe dream. Not that it surprises me…" The man slowly turns himself around, revealing a being whose gruff, black dreadlocks covered head was bonded to the neck of his black, bulky and metallic suit. The man stood tall and grinned as he put the bottom of his scythe on the ground, while Kairi quickly tried to compose herself while the man named Gravitus commented "After all, you presumed me dead after our battle two weeks ago."

"Then just how are you alive…?" Kairi said, keeping a firm glare on the man while a hand was laid onto her bracelet still, specifically putting a finger atop the Neo Drive as Gravitus went on to say in a rather eerily calm tone "Oh, we will get to that in due time…But first, how are you liking this ship? It's rather simplistic, I must admit, but it's capabilities are second to none." Kairi ignored the man's remarks and bluntly inquired "Shut up, I don't care about any of that. If you aren't going to tell me how you came back to life, then I want to know why you are here!"

Gravitus raised a hand in front of his shoulders and grabbed part of his cape, remarking with a grin on his face "Is it truly that hard to figure that out for yourself, daughter? Hmph, perhaps this will jog that brain of yours into thinking for itself…" Gravitus took the hand he raised and turned it to show the back of it off, and after a moment of concentration a swirling symbol that looked like a collapsing galaxy appeared on the back of his metallic hand. Kairi stared at the symbol and thought nothing of it's appearance for a few seconds, but then something snapped into her mind, a thought that she wish she hadn't brought up.

As Kairi's face turned to one of shock, Gravitus grinned a little more, especially after she commented "Y-You're Justek's herald…All that time…You were holding the second seal to his cage…" "And thanks to the efforts of your pathetic boyfriend and yourself, you allowed two seals to be broken off of my master's cage. And then the Phoenix of Destruction finished the rest. Haha, all went according to plan. I had to wait two-thousand years, but in the end I have nothing but joy in my metallic heart." Gravitus commented a moment later, and his joy could not be measured as he spoke.

"But you had to die for that seal to be broken!" Kairi pointed out with an exclamation, and Gravitus immediately laughed and told her "Oh please…And who exactly said that? I imagine it was that weak little Phoenix of Balance, Riku…No, the truth of the matter is that I only needed the seal to vanish from my hand. And it was because of what you did that it broke. As for my survival…Well, we shall get to that soon enough."

"Not likely. I don't care what your goals are here Gravitus, and I don't care why you chose to work for Justek! You should've stayed dead instead of trying to cross me again!" Kairi was a second away from activating the Neo Drive, but then she was caught by a powerful black aura wrapping itself around her body that prevented her from moving. Gravitus' right hand was extended outward slightly with that same aura around it, and he commented snidely "Now now…Don't get too ahead of yourself, my dear. You aren't immune to my powers until you activate the Neo Drive."

Kairi could only grit her teeth as Gravitus forced her arm to rise up away from the bracelet, leading to him then stating "You will hear me out the rest of the way before we begin." Gravitus loosens his grip just enough to allow Kairi to speak, and she bluntly says to him "What is there to talk about?! You sold your own people out to serve Justek!" "Sold my people out? Hahahaha…! Are you really thinking that naively about this, my daughter?" Gravitus said with a wide-eyed, humored expression on his face.

After shaking his head a little, Gravitus hung his head slightly and commented "Nothing has changed. My endgame in all of this is to make right everything in this broken universe of ours…Just because I have lost the right to the Neo Drive doesn't mean that my ambitions can be stopped. Master Justek has the power necessary to change this universe, do right where that foolish Elemental Overlord and the Dark King failed to accomplish anything! As you can see, our goals are quite similar, so it only makes sense that I would choose to become his herald."

As Kairi subtly tried to struggle against Gravitus' powers, she commented angrily "A-And once again…Bullshit! You're a monster Gravitus…You just want to control the universe for yourself!" Gravitus merely laughed at that comment and with his head held back and his other hand on his forehead he said "Oh please…By the time we are done, there will be no need for anyone to have to control. No 'higher-ups', no Ten Sages, and no Elemental Overlords will ever exist again!"

"Like anyone should believe you…After all you said about letting the Aurians become a galactic 'peace' force under your control!" Kairi exclaimed in a bitter tone of voice, and Gravitus nodded his head a little and said in a coy and somewhat callous manner "Oh, I suppose there will have to be some sacrifices at first…Fixing the universe is not that meager of a task. But our people will be there to keep things together until the people of the universe can learn to be satisfied with the peace that we'll have given them."

"'Learn'? 'Satisfied'? Sounds to me you're still using your tyrannical vocabulary, Gravitus." Kairi quietly said, and Gravitus just shook his head and remarked "Hehehe, no, I am merely speaking the truth of the matter. There's still time you know…You can choose to follow my ambition and help me bring peace to the universe." Gravitus extends his left hand out afterwards, but Kairi just gave him a piercing glare and said "With all due respect 'father'…Fuck. You."

There was a brief pause before Gravitus lowered his arm and let out a chilling laugh, telling Kairi as bluntly as he could "Hehehe, you're time with that brat Overlord has truly made you confident and strong, hasn't it? That coward that was trembling before me is long gone…It's rather unfortunate that you refuse to see things my way…But the Aurora bloodline has always been a stubborn lot, I suppose. From your grandfather to your mother, to that bullheaded sister or yours too…" Gravitus swings his left up in front of his face and says "But if you're going to choose to be a threat…Then I suppose it's only appropriate for you to receive your punishment, daughter."

Gravitus snaps his fingers, sending a metallic sound ringing through the room, and all of a sudden eight holes open up in a circle on the ceiling, with one figure dropping through each of them and landing on the ground around Kairi. Kairi's eyes widened in surprise as she recognized all the figures as eight of the Planetary Aurians, but something was quite off with them. They all had dark rings around their eyes, and their bodies had a faint red aura around them similar to what the Anti-Genesis Theorem looked like. They all stared dully at Kairi and were definitely not themselves.

Kairi just glared at Gravitus and said "What have you done, Gravitus?!" Her anger could not be described at that very moment, but Gravitus just kept an eerily calm demeanor to him as he walked up to Aurian Pluto, who stood in front of him looking just as broken as he was after Mew had defeated him two weeks ago. Gravitus laid a hand on Pluto's right shoulder and commented "You wondered how I survived, hmmm? Well now I shall tell you…"

As Gravitus looked at Kairi, he said to her calmly "After you hit me with your final attack, I barely had any aura to my name. The most I could do was pull an asteroid to me and use it as support to hold my body until Pluto here could find me…I knew he would remain loyal to me, and he was more than willing to provide me with enough aura to keep moving. Of course, that was after he fended off that bratty Dark King from finishing me. So of course, I had to reward Pluto's loyalty by making him the first person Master Justek hypnotized. Hehehe, what a fool he was in the end…"

Gravitus then remarked "A pity that Gabriel could not join us…That brat Solaris ruined that part of my plan, unfortunately. But still, a reunion of the Planetary Aurians to stop a defiant member of their race? There could be no better moment than this, truly…" Kairi grit her teeth in anger, and Gravitus finally decided to revel in the joy of this by swinging his arms out beside himself and bursting into laughter.

After a few seconds of that, Gravitus exclaimed "Of course Master Justek's plans worked perfectly! Hahahaha…! While you wasted your time fending off those two brats and their so-called army, I did my part and forced the other Planetary Aurians to submit! Then I brought that naïve Dark King, the reality-bending alien, and the Phoenix of Balance's dragon allies to my master so he could hypnotize them for our cause! Once that alien did his part in creating this ship, I waited here for this time to come, and now I am just moments away from witnessing the fruition of my ambitions!"

After all those words of his that were dripping with ecstasy, Gravitus reverted back to his calmer self and stepped back a bit, saying after a momentary, relaxing sigh "And to think…All of this was possible because one boy became so consumed by a pathetic and pitiful revenge that he sought to destroy everything." Kairi widened her eyes and murmured "Wait…That description fits…" But Gravitus gave her no chance to finish that sentence as she raised his right hand and snapped his fingers to break the gravity effect around her body, which allowed her to control herself again as the eight Planetary Aurians leaped right at her.

With only a second to spare, Kairi quickly slammed her hand down atop the Neo Drive and unleashed a burst of rainbow aura around her body that pushed the Planetary Aurians back. Radiant wings of that aura spread out from Kairi's back as she lifted her head up and glared at Gravitus, who just kept a coy grin on his face as Kairi swung her right arm up and created a blade across it before flying at him. But before she could slice Gravitus' head off of her path is blocked by Aurian Jupiter, who kneeled down in front of Kairi and tried to throw a straight jab into her gut while doubling the size of the muscles on her arm.

Kairi leaned back to dodge the actual punch, but the effect of Jupiter's aura meant that she still hit Kairi with half the strength of the attack, which did hurt Kairi slightly. Kairi then sensed an attack coming from behind and leaped into the air before a series of pool balls coated in a frosty aura hit her thanks to the combined efforts of Neptune and Uranus. Jupiter fends off the effects of absolute zero on her fist by increasing the size of her muscles once more to shatter the ice, but then goes back to normal and leaps into the air alongside Mars to attack Kairi from front and back respectively.

Kairi gets enough of a grip on herself to swing her arms out and with the help of the Neo Drive, use Saturn's constraining aura to grab Mars and Jupiter in cages of aura and then spin around, throwing both Aurians away from herself into the nearby walls, where the cages shatter and damage the two slightly. But this just left Kairi open enough for Saturn to zip behind her with her battle suit activated and slice across her back with an energy ring projecting out of her arm. The Neo Drive protected Kairi enough that the cut to her shirt and skin was minor, but the fact that Saturn could even touch her in this state just showed how much the Anti-Genesis Theorem was helping her out.

" _I have to knock some of them out quickly…Or I'm going to get overwhelmed here, even with the Neo Drive!"_ Kairi thought to herself as she turned around to face Saturn, who reacted to Kairi's movements by bending down and spinning herself around to kick the back of Kairi's legs and trip her up even in mid-air, followed by her standing up and throwing a punch straight towards the bottom of Kairi's chin. Kairi thrusts her legs out and kicks Saturn in the gut to push herself back out of the way of the punch right in the nick of time.

Kairi then swung her arms out and created two blades, swinging them out to launch waves of rainbow aura at Saturn. While Saturn was distracted cutting up those waves with her energy rings, Kairi flipped herself around and flied forward while sending beams of aura down at the ground, creating miniature explosions that strike the Planetary Aurians gathered there and sending them around the room save for Neptune, who strikes the ground with her pool stick and uses magic to create a barrier that protects herself and Jupiter, and Saturn, who was still in mid-air.

After Kairi launched that salvo of aura, she decided to use Uranus' aura ability to hopefully freeze the Planetary Aurians so they could be freed from Justek's control later, but before she could wave her hand out and make the necessary move a cloud of gas overwhelmed her and made her vision blurry slightly. Venus was the one responsible for this attack, and Kairi was thus forced to switch to her drive to overtake Venus' control of the gases and force them away. Kairi then turned around and blasted Venus with a shockwave of aura from her body, being struck with a feeling of regret a moment afterwards.

Regret that quickly turned back into anger against Gravitus for letting this happen. The man stood near the window looking smug as usual, but appeared to be vulnerable. Kairi quickly dived down in an arc at Gravitus with a blade projected in front of her for a quick stab, but Aurian Pluto got in the way and without budging an inch he used his divine aura to act as Gravitus' shield, and even the might of the Neo Drive wasn't able to break through those defenses. Radiance sparked across the room from the clash of auras, and Kairi had to back off before Mercury could strike her with their ultimate attack, the Temperature Tornado.

As Kairi skid back along the ground and flapped her wings, Pluto picked his swords up and dashed at her, blindly swinging them at her as she zipped around out of the range of the attacks. As the blades were not made of aura, there would be no countering their deadly abilities if either one struck, so Kairi made it imperative to take Pluto out of the picture first, a feat she was more than happy to accomplish after all that bastard had done to her.

But first Mars came at her again and swung his nunchucks out while Jupiter attacked with a flurry of punches from the other side and Saturn swung her rings blades at Kairi from behind, all the while Pluto got in front of her and swung both of his swords out. Kairi was trapped for the time being, but she focused all of her efforts into keeping Pluto's blades out of range of her body, including using aura guards to hold them back at certain points. With all that was going on, Kairi's mind was stressing out, meaning Mars, Jupiter and Saturn got some good hits on her before she could defend properly, but at the same time Kairi realized something important while glaring at Pluto in particular.

"… _The Neo Drive can copy properties of other Aurian Drives, so that means…"_ Suddenly, a pair of holy gates with a cross between them both appeared in Kairi's eyes for a moment, and her aura turned a holy white as all four of her attackers tried to strike her at the same time. Their attacks hit her aura and nothing else, and Kairi grinned slightly before wasting no time in raising her right fist up and with the Neo Drive empowering it combined with using Pluto's drive, she punches Pluto straight in the face with everything she's got.

A shockwave emerges from the punch that blows away the other three, and Pluto is launched across the room before smacking into the window after Gravitus steps aside. Pluto lurches forward and then drops to the ground, the rings being removed from around his eyes as he falls unconscious. Gravitus glances at Pluto's body and after a coy laugh he remarks "Worthless…Not even good as a puppet." Gravitus then looked at Kairi and commented "I was wondering what took you so long to use that! But it seems I forgot that you did not witness this fool use this drive in front of you!"

Kairi stood upright while the other Planetary Aurians surrounded her, and as she glanced at them with Pluto's drive ability still activated Gravitus raised his right hand up and remarked "But if you believe that the Divinity Drive is a be-all-end-all defense, you are sorely mistaken. Never once did Pluto realize that it had more than one weakness…" Gravitus then snapped his fingers, and all at once the remaining seven Planetary Aurians launch a flurry of attacks at Kairi. From punches to projectiles, they make sure to apply as much pressure as they could to Kairi's body.

Kairi tried to move out of the way, but the pressure of the attacks made her unable to move. Slowly, the defenses of the drive were being worn down, but instead of worrying about this Kairi was thinking about which Planetary Aurian to knock out next. _"I'm sorry I have to be rough…You should not have been dragged into this battle…But I promise I'll make Gravitus pay for this!"_ Kairi then shuts the Divinity Drive off and replaces it with a constant stream of aura from the Neo Drive that protects herself, and with a great burst of speed she goes right through Saturn's attacks and uses her drive ability to contain her quickly.

The Neo Drive allows her to wrap Saturn's body in twenty layers of containment aura, allowing Kairi enough time to attach ropes of aura to the front of the cage and then swing it around as hard as she could, throwing Saturn right at Neptune. Neptune creates a barrier with magic from her pool stick, but Kairi swings her right hand out and makes spikes come out of Saturn's cage to pierce through Neptune's barrier and cause it to shatter. Kairi then retracted the spikes and flew forward before Mercury and Mars could attack her, punching the cage hard enough to send Saturn and Neptune both crashing against the wall.

Neptune in particular hits her head against the wall and falls unconscious, with Kairi pulling away the cage around Saturn, who went unconscious as well from being thrown around in the cage combined with the strength Kairi used in conjunction with the Neo Drive. Kairi then wrapped the aura she drew away from the cage into a sphere and turned around, throwing out the sphere towards Mars and Mercury's location, and when the attack is between them it warps that area and drags both of them in to the center of the attack before releasing a burst of energy strong enough to throw those two unconscious.

Kairi panted a little bit since she was pushing the limits of her body and the Neo Drive simultaneously to knock the Planetary Aurians out, and while she stood in place Jupiter was able to get behind her and punch with the maximum size of both of her fists, which were capable of shattering large moons, and though there was a bit of pain coming from Kairi's spine she endured the attack and was pushed forward through the air twenty feet. Kairi turned around and saw both Venus and Uranus firing deadly gas and absolute zero projectiles from their auras, and Kairi countered them with Neptune's deflecting aura drive before flying at Jupiter and delivering a very hard punch to her forehead before she could pivot out of the way.

Jupiter was knocked to the ground with a great deal of blunt force, but Kairi knew how durable she was and that she'd be fine after she woke up. That just left the youngest of the Planetary Aurians to take out, and Kairi had to force away the hesitation on her mind before flying at Uranus and kneeing her right in the face to take her out, knocking off her crown as she falls to the ground. Then all that was left for Kairi to face Venus and raise her arms up, using Saturn's drive one last time to quickly contain her gaseous body in aura, where a lack of oxygen would throw her unconscious in a matter of seconds.

Kairi swings her arms outward and drops the aura around Venus, whose body falls to the ground, making her the last one freed from Justek's control. Kairi held her arms out and panted slightly, looking around to see the unconscious bodies of the eight Planetary Aurians, and every victory here was empty beyond all belief. Kairi then heard a slow metallic clap coming from the right of her, and slowly turned around to see Gravitus just standing smugly by the window as he had this entire time, clapping his hands together at a slow but consistent pace.

"Good…Good…You managed to triumph over those weaklings. And as expected, you couldn't kill any of them, even though you had no idea that throwing them unconscious would free them from Master Justek's control." Gravitus said in a mocking tone, with Kairi turning and swinging her right arm out while leaning forward, creating a blade of aura while exclaiming angrily "Bastard! They had no reason to be here! You forced them to fight against their will yet again!"

Gravitus raised his head up slightly and grinned, remarking as he held his hands together "Did they truly have no reason to be here? You keep forgetting…When an Elemental Overlord is part of the equation, no one is 'not involved'. That is an absolute law of this wretched universe." Kairi exclaimed "You aren't allowed to use that as an excuse! Mew and Riku would never allow innocents to be involved!"

"And yet here we are…" Gravitus said callously, and after parting his hands he held his right one out and commented "Besides, there is not just those two…The Phoenix of Rebirth, the Phoenix of Balance…And the Phoenix of Destruction. There are three Elemental Overlords currently, and last I checked, the third has no qualms whatsoever with letting innocents get buried in that sun god brat's flames or the chill of that girl's lunar magic. Hahahaha, he made his allegiances quite clear to me on that day two-thousand years ago."

Kairi widened her eyes and froze up for a moment before remarking "W-What did you just say?" Gravitus reversed and held his right hand out in front of him before remarking slyly "Oh that's right…Not even Auris, with all of her foresight, would have any knowledge of this, would she? That Gaia Temporis, truly a fascinating relic…To be able to block even a clairvoyant's ability to see by making certain that time is frozen and thus unobservable."

Kairi looked increasingly stunned as Gravitus then went on to say "I would like to think that the ambition to fix this universe always existed within me, but back then I had some rather…Mortal limitations, I'd say. If he hadn't shown up and gave me that little push, along with removing that annoying limitation…" Gravitus grinned happily and then remarked "Then I doubt you would have ever even been born, daughter."

It was at that point that the truth struck Kairi incredibly hard, her heart skipping a beat with a sharp join of pain, and as much as she didn't want to say it she whispered out "You're telling me…That Alex Whiter…" "Was the one responsible for everything that has happened to your people over the last two thousand years. That boy truly hates our race…To go so far as to travel back through time and become the catalyst for my ambitions to begin…Hahaha, and do you know just why he hates our race in particular so much?" Gravitus taunted Kairi with the truth while she was in this vulnerable state.

But after a moment, Kairi grit her teeth in rage and swung her bladed arm out in front of her, exclaiming at the top of her lungs "I don't want to hear any of it! I'll deal with that bastard Alex later! You still made the decision to make your own people suffer! How dare you try and pass it off as part of your 'ambition'! You're nothing more than a monster Gravitus, no matter how much you try to claim otherwise, and the sooner we're rid of you, the sooner we can move on toward a better future!"

Gravitus just shook his head and with a shrug of his shoulders commented "Fine then…It's quite humorous to see you fail to realize that there exists an even greater monster amongst our people, the one who acted as a catalyst to the creation of the Phoenix of Destruction in the first place…But if you wish to divert your eyes from the truth, then so be it. I have no use for the blind, even if you are my flesh and blood." Gravitus lifted his right hand up in front of his face and switched around a bulge on the metallic plating to reveal his Space Drive, but along with that he also reveal a second sphere that glowed a bright crimson red.

Kairi knew what this was immediately, and Gravitus grinned and said as he noticed her reaction "The Anti-Genesis Theorem…The only thing the Ten Sages created that's worth a damn. Things are not going to be like last time, daughter dearest…" Gravitus quickly slammed both the Space Drive and the Anti-Genesis Theorem, and immediately a red light pulsated around the edge of his body along with an incredible pressure born of black aura. Gravitus' eyes turned bright red as the power flowed through his metallic body, and he held his arms out beside himself as the very room trembled.

Kairi could tell that Gravitus was much stronger than before, and his aura was capable of pushing the Planetary Aurians towards the other side of the room without him doing anything. As the red and black aura coursed outside of Gravitus' body, he put on an absolutely livid expression of joy before saying "This power…Why would I ever need the Neo Drive now when this combination alone allows me to surpass it?!" Kairi didn't budge at all even in the face of Gravitus' might, standing tall in front of him after glancing back at the unconscious bodies of the Planetary Aurians.

"You're still going to lose, Gravitus. I don't care how strong you get…You're fighting against the will and dreams of all Aurians!" Kairi exclaimed, and Gravitus gripped his fingers together tightly and stated "Foolish daughter…Do you know why this torment of yours continues to exist? Because you're spineless! You don't actually have what it takes to kill anyone, even the person you hate the most in this world! That's your weakness, that's why you will never stop me, let alone Master Justek!"

 _Next Time: Eternal Feud…_


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: The Gravity Herald II: Eternal Generational Feud**

"And just what makes you say that?" Kairi inquired in response to Gravitus' accusation, and he just simply grinned and told her "Would I be here facing you once more if you actually had it in you to kill someone? Even a supposedly horrible monster such as myself survived all the power you threw at me…" Kairi swung her bladed arm beside herself and remarked "You think I didn't try to kill you? There was no way you should have survived my attack."

"And yet, I did. We can run circles around this argument if that's what you want, my dear daughter…But the truth of the matter is that you still had plenty of power from the Neo Drive you could have drawn out to kill me, but you held back. Your actions would make little sense, if it weren't for the observations I had made…" Gravitus raised his right hand up in front of him and commented "It's simple enough to determine that even during your violent past, you would never go as far as to kill any of your own people…But then you went and spared the Planetary Aurians despite knowing they worked for me."

"Like I could ever bring myself to do that after knowing how you tricked them all!" Kairi exclaimed, and Gravitus commented "Oh please, that's just another excuse…Then how do you explain letting that lunar brat live? Regardless of the circumstances, you had every reason to end her. Face it daughter, your boyfriend may be pathetic for the most part, but when it came down to it I knew he would have killed me without a single moment of hesitation. He would've likely also slew the Master's bratty children."

Gravitus clenched his fingers together into a fist and exclaimed "You, on the other hand, are a coward! You can't ever bring yourself to take another person's life no matter how much they have wronged you! Beasts, machines, you have no problem showing no mercy to them, but if they are the slightest bit human…Then you hesitate!" Kairi paused for a moment, believing that Gravitus said to be true, but with a firm glare she then exclaimed "Fine, perhaps I did hesitate to kill you before, but it's like you said…"

Kairi spread her wings of aura wide and brightened them full of energy while she widened her eyes and said "You aren't even the slightest bit human, Gravitus, so this time around I'll make sure you die! You will never come back to plague anyone ever again!" Gravitus grinned widely in anticipation and exclaimed "Excellent! Show me your anger, your hatred, and I will prove to you how worthless they are against the might of the strongest Aurian to ever live!"

Gravitus swung his right hand out and pulled his scythe back into his grasp, swinging it forward in front of him to unleash an absolutely massive wave of black and red aura towards Kairi. Kairi spun around gracefully and cut through the center of the aura with her formed blade, then she stamped her left foot against the ground and folded the blade in front of her to charge enough aura into it to double it's length, but is forced to use it for defense when Gravitus dashed to get in front of her and cleave his scythe down like a brutal fang.

Kairi widens her eyes out and swings her aura sword out to strike the blade of Gravitus' scythe, the resulting collision pushing her back a good five feet as shockwaves of both parties' auras spread across the room. Kairi then quickly summoned the power of Saturn's drive and swung her left hand out to wrap Gravitus' right hand and scythe in a containing aura. Kairi then tries to tug on Gravitus' arm to get the scythe free from his grasp, but he quickly showed a greater deal of resistance, the machinery in his body along with the Anti-Genesis Theorem providing him the strength to overpower Kairi's aura and break the tether on the containment aura.

Gravitus then shatters the aura surround his arm with a burst of his own and leaps back, throwing his scythe out at Kairi while spinning it around rapidly, forcing Kairi to quickly hop over the scythe and put up a defense shield behind herself to hold off the scythe while she calls upon the raw power of the Neo Drive to throw her hands forward and blast Gravitus with a huge wave of rainbow aura. By the time Gravitus was pushed back after a bit of flinching, his scythe managed to break through Kairi's barrier.

Fortunately, Kairi quickly activated Pluto's drive ability to protect herself with the divine aura, but that was just what Gravitus wanted as he swung his arms out and launched a gigantic sphere of aura out in front of his body instantly. Both the scythe and the sphere of aura applied a ton of pressure to Kairi's divine aura, preventing her from moving. As the energy of Gravitus' attack flashed directly in front of Kairi's eyes, her hair blew around from the pressure while she held her focus entirely on the Neo Drive, switching in an instant from Pluto to Neptune's drive, which causes the aura color to return to a rainbow one and deflect the scythe away from her body along with Gravitus' attack back at him.

Gravitus just stood his ground and released a burst of aura around his body to destroy his own attack, but then guides his scythe backwards to try and go for the unconscious Planetary Aurians. Kairi could feel that and quickly turned herself around, flying straight for the scythe as fast as she could by activating the power of the Angel Drive through her Neo Drive, and once she was in front of the scythe she drew an aura blade and sliced through the handle halfway, which is enough to make both halves drop to the ground without Gravitus' control on them.

Gravitus then grinned slightly and with a subtle gesture of his left arm he made the halves of his scythe rise up and swing towards the back of Kairi's body, creating a blade with aura on the so it can be used for attacking. Kairi widens her eyes and turns around right as the blades swing down and cut through the Neo Drive's aura, getting through her clothes and putting decent cuts into her arms that draw blood. But Kairi then grabs onto the handles of the two scythes and uses Gravitus' drive ability to overwhelm his control long enough for her to turn around and throw the scythes back his way.

Gravitus swings his right hand out and guides one of the scythes towards his right hand, letting the other one slice up his left arm for a few seconds before he turned around and snapped them back together with binding aura, followed by him throwing a diagonal wave of aura out towards Kairi, who ducks back to get out of the way of it. After lifting back up, Kairi rapidly swings her arms out in front of her body to send multiple blasts of aura at Gravitus, who counters by standing still and just throwing equally powerful blasts out from his aura.

The attacks cancel each other out without any spectacle for a few seconds, then some invisible bursts of air go off and create a gale across the room that blows Kairi's hair and clothes around while she stands still and glares at Gravitus. Kairi then swings her right arm out and draws on the Beast Tamer drive power to summon a lion and tiger of aura and send them both charging at her foe, who swings his right hand out to create a beam of aura from his hand so concentrated that it burns up the tiles on the ground as he tries to take down the beasts.

But his efforts prove futile as the lion leaps into the air and claws the top of Gravitus' right arm with enough force to rip the whole lower segment of it apart, forcing him to concentrate a lot of his aura into quickly repairing it while raising the hand up to grab the lion by the neck and quickly crush it with an eruption of aura emerging from his grasp. The tiger then goes for the left hand and bites down on it, with the fangs piercing into it firmly.

Gravitus flinches for a moment before blowing up the tiger by forcing a huge blast of aura through it's mouth, but by then Kairi was able to repeatedly pierce Gravitus' body with decent sized spears of aura, many of them sticking out of the front of his mechanical form while others pierced right out from his backside. Gravitus grinned a little and said "See…? You should have aimed for the he-" Kairi furiously widens her eyes and snaps her fingers, causing the spears to explode all at once and throw Gravitus back against the glass window, which doesn't crack at all from the impact.

Kairi then throws her arms out beside herself and stands fully erect, throwing out from her wings dozens of aura blades, all of them turning to point right at Gravitus, and after a brief roar Kairi throws them all his way. Gravitus recovers from the earlier attack and lifts his arms up to grab two of the blades by their handles before they could hit him, dropping his scythe and grinning as he then released a burst of aura to shatter the other blades. Gravitus then swung his arms down on both sides of his body and poured his aura into the blades to make them his own, increasing the length a few inches before he then sprinted to get before Kairi in an instant.

With great strength Gravitus swings the swords around while pushing forward, making broad strikes every attack he could and forcing Kairi to be quite agile as she makes short hops backwards until she gets enough freedom to focus on creating her own sword. Then she swings it out after making the blade precise enough to cut through Gravitus' aura swords easily, but he quickly reforms the blades and pushes them together, raising both above his head and swinging them down as hard as he could to break them apart against the ground and send a wave of aura crashing over Kairi's body.

Kairi's slightly damaged from the attack and is pushed back, but she quickly levitates off the ground and warps space beside herself before sending tons of aura needles at Gravitus while he was hunched forward. Gravitus lifts himself up and summons a barrier to hold off the needles raising his right hand up close to the barrier before wrapping the aura around it and then swinging it forward to send a whip out that wraps around Kairi's arms and body to tie her up and hold her back from attacking for a moment.

Gravitus then tries to pull Kairi towards him, only for her to freeze the aura with Uranus' Absolute Zero drive and shatters it by exerting her strength against the ice. Gravitus then slowly steps back and rubs his chin while remarking "You really think their tricks will work against me this time?" Kairi didn't say a word and thrust herself forward in an instant, stabbing Gravitus through the chest with an aura blade and then hoisting him into the air before he could stop her, proceeding to expand a series of spikes from the top of the blade to rip through a large part of Gravitus' metallic body.

Kairi then throws Gravitus off of her blade after lunging it forward again, but Gravitus slides along the ground and while focusing some aura towards repairing himself he swings his right arm out while a maddening grin on his face, using his aura to repeatedly launch some sparking orbs of black aura out across the air. Kairi holds herself still and quickly realizes that none of the orbs were aimed at her, and that Gravitus planned to attack the unconscious Planetary Aurians. Kairi quickly leaped backwards fast enough to get in front of the unconscious bodies and swing her arms up, creating a triple layered barrier of aura directly from the Neo Drive that is able to hold back Gravitus' power.

The barrier bulges from each attack but fixes itself back up quickly, with Gravitus then resorting to sending waves of aura along the ground every time he stamped his foot against it. Kairi kept holding on though, she had to since the lives of the Planetary Aurians were at stake here. Gravitus then clenches his right fist tightly and thrusts it forward, sending a gigantic aura fist out that strikes the front of the weakened barriers with enough force to break right through it, surprising Kairi for a moment as the hand widened and prepared to launch a massive beam out.

When the glow reached maximum luminosity, the beam fired off in a widened cone, and Kairi once more had to put up a strong defense to keep the Planetary Aurians from being attacked. She activates Saturn's drive and creates a curved wall of aura that begins to wrap around the energy being fired in order to contain it, and this requires a lot of concentration on Kairi's end in order to allow her to compress the aura into a sphere. Kairi then leaps through the hole in her collapsing barrier while grabbing the sphere in her right hand, throwing it out straight at Gravitus the moment she sees him.

Gravitus swings his right hand out, hitting the sphere with the back of his hand to send it back at Kairi faster than before, and Kairi has only a couple seconds to create a sword and slice through the sphere, the two halves flying out and shattering the remainder of the barrier behind her. But the explosion that ensues also has enough force to push Kairi forward, where Gravitus then creates four aura tendrils that lash against her limbs and quickly drag her towards him. While Kairi spends time breaking the aura with Uranus' drive ability once more, Gravitus leaped forward and punched Kairi hard in the left cheek, shattering the frozen aura binding her and sending her plummeting to the ground, where she bounces off of it a couple of times before she's able to use aura to knock herself back onto her feet.

After a couple seconds of skidding, Kairi swings her right hand out and launches a series of aura bombs out towards Gravitus, some of them exploding before they reach him due to him focusing on them and making them burst with raw gravitational pressure from his aura. The others explode and take out good chunks of his body, though it's still nothing he couldn't repair all on his own. Gravitus then swung his right hand out and remarked "Hehehe, this arena truly isn't big enough for us to use our powers properly…"

Kairi said while laying a hand on her right arm as she puts another blade on it "And you think you'd be able to save yourself by taking the fight to space? I can use your Space Drive too if I wanted to." Gravitus called Kairi's bluff by bluntly telling her in a humored tone "Please…The Neo Drive is very powerful, as is it's ability, but you cannot comprehend something as grand as space itself…Your mind is far, far too young to handle the power of the Space Drive. It's not as accommodating as the Neo Drive is."

"Then that settles that matter, doesn't it?" Kairi remarked, followed by her swinging her left hand out and creating another aura blade from that, and Gravitus said after a brief laugh "Yes, I suppose it does. Besides, the most reliable thing I can use in this area is the sun, and unfortunately now that those brats have been freed from his cage their power is one of the very few things that trumps my Space Drive's capabilities. Hahaha, what a pity that is. If not for that, I could easily fry even the Elemental Overlords whenever I choose."

"Well you'll never get to see any of them ever again, Gravitus!" Kairi exclaimed before rapidly swinging her arms in front of her, cutting the air to send waves of slicing aura at Gravitus while letting out a focused battle cry, and Gravitus widens his eyes and exclaims "As if you can stop me now, not when I am on the crux of fulfilling my ambitions!" Gravitus raised his power to maximum, causing his aura to extend up halfway towards the ceiling and allowing him to just dispel Kairi's attacks with sheer pressure.

As the room shakes, Gravitus' raw power has enough gravitational pull to start dragging the Planetary Aurians towards him, but Kairi quickly puts a stop to that by binding those eight bodies to the ground with chains of aura. Gravitus then exclaimed "It's quite a pity really! You could have survived this whole ordeal if you just chose to accept my offer back then! There would have been no suffering on your part!" Kairi stood against Gravitus' power as her clothes and hair wavered about against her will and with a firm expression she told him off bluntly with "It's not just about myself! This is where you keep screwing up Gravitus…You keep thinking that people only care about themselves and no one else!"

"Hahahaha! This universe wouldn't be such a damn mess if my thoughts were wrong, daughter! Even to this day, the ripples of the Ten Sages' mistakes continue to damn this world, all because they cared nothing about anyone but themselves!" Gravitus exclaimed, and Kairi just told him off with "That was all in the past Gravitus! You're the only one who likely even cares about them anymore."

"Dear daughter…If you never look to the past, mistakes will be repeated time and time again until everything you know and love is gone." Gravitus replied without a care in his tone, but all Kairi had to say in response to that is "You're just a prime example of that then, aren't you? If you hated the Ten Sages for their selfishness, then you've ended up looking no better then they did. You threw aside your duty to your people for greed and power, Gravitus. And without any of that at your side, what do you have? You have nothing, that's what."

Gravitus flinched for just a moment and then glared at Kairi with a scowl, telling her after he composed his thoughts properly "You think I have nothing in this universe? Hahahaha…! I have everything I ever need! Something as meager as respect from my own people means nothing to me now!" Kairi lifted her head up slightly and with a cold, piercing look in her eyes she said "You're just pitiful Gravitus. Why was I ever afraid of someone who is nothing more than a tool…?"

"Continue speaking with that sharp tongue of yours, daughter…But at the end of the day, even if by some miracle you manage to stop me and Master Justek, what does this change? All you'll have done is stop something you perceive to be a threat. Nothing else will have changed!" Gravitus tries to make a point that the efforts of Kairi and her allies were pointless, but Kairi just turned that logic around on him by stating "No, it's like you said…We will have stopped a threat. We don't need anything more than that out of this."

"Hahaha…! If you keep ignoring the problems this universe has-" "Will you just give it a rest already? If your plan is to wear me down with your constant attempts at arguing, then that's just a load of bullshit." Kairi interrupted Gravitus as quick as she could, rolling her eyes for a moment as Gravitus grinned slightly and said "I've been doing nothing but trying to help this universe out even if it doesn't even deserve the honor. I will not be denied my ambitions by some ignorant girl, even if they are my own daughter!"

"Well I don't care what you think Gravitus! We don't need you change anything, we're capable of fixing things ourselves! We can look to the past and change our tomorrow for the better!" Kairi exclaimed without any hesitation on her mind, and Gravitus then clenched his fists to make the aura around his body compress down around him before remarking "Then prove to me that you're right if you can! I will break down every one of your hopes and dreams, daughter!"

Gravitus lunged right at Kairi and got in front of her before throwing his right fist directly against her face, sending a shockwave out as Kairi just stands there and takes the punch, her cheek bones cracking slightly as she just resisted Gravitus' punch with a furious look in her eyes, pushing back Gravitus' fist with the sheer strength she has within her body at this moment, proceeding to then take her right hand and stab Gravitus through the chest multiple times with an aura blade.

Gravitus doesn't even bother reacting to the attacks and quickly swung his left fist down, hitting Kairi in the gut with a mean hook. Kairi flinches momentarily and coughs up a tiny bit of blood, followed by Gravitus grabbing Kairi by the head and lifting her up. Kairi regains concentration to then grab Gravitus' arm and use Uranus' drive to freeze it up, giving the man no means of holding onto her so she could escape by then snapping Gravitus' frozen hand right off. In response to that, Gravitus uses his aura to grab the hand and wrap a few layers around it to increase it's size.

He then uses that hand to grab Kairi by the neck and try to pull her onto her knees while simultaneously choking her, though Kairi had enough concentration to swing her right arm out while she dropped, cutting diagonally through Gravitus' legs and causing him to slide back and nearly drop to the ground before he caught himself with his aura. Kairi fixes that by turning her wings into a hammer and smashing Gravitus right in the face with enough force to knock him to the ground, drawing blood from his nose as well.

As Gravitus lets out a roar of shock, his concentration is broken on the hand around Kairi's neck, giving her enough time to lift her hand up and throw it away, then she lifts herself up and lunges her right arm out to extend the reach of her aura blade and pierce through the center of Gravitus' body, though it emerged behind him below his neck. This just caused Gravitus to laugh slightly before he raised his right hand up and snapped the sword apart with a firm grasp, using his powers to then lift himself up and put his body back together quickly.

"You-" Gravitus was about to make another comment when Kairi suddenly got in front of him and punched his chest hard, using Jupiter's drive to increase the strength of her blow enough to rip through his metallic skin, followed by her going for his head from below with an uppercut from her left arm. Gravitus lifts his left hand up and catches Kairi's punch, grabbing onto her hand tightly and using brute strength to try and break the bones, but with her fist still plunged through his body Kairi kicks up off the ground and rapidly ascends to the ceiling to slam Gravitus' head against it.

Gravitus tries to resist by forcing Kairi to the ground with his gravity aura, but she counteracts by overpowering the aura with her own and successfully slams him against the ceiling, which does enough to shake his brain and force him to let go of Kairi. Kairi pulls her fist out and makes him drop towards the ground, where she then thrusts her arms out and makes a series of aura blades spawn around Gravitus, stabbing through his body multiple times and suspending him in mid-air.

Kairi then creates a bow out of aura and aims it at Gravitus, firing tons of arrows down upon him that pierce through his body and make the swords explode to take out even more chunks of his body. He drops to the ground and quickly goes to repair his body with his powers, remarking quietly to himself "D-Damn it!" He was beginning to lose his cool, but nevertheless pushes himself onto his feet and looks at the Planetary Aurians.

This time around he focuses on Pluto's swords and uses his powers to draw them to his side, grabbing them tightly and then leap up to go after Kairi. Kairi turns upside-down to kick off of the ceiling and charge at Gravitus, though instead of meeting his stolen blades head-on Kairi dives behind him and starts to flip and turn around, with Gravitus turning around as well in order to try and cut her with the swords. Kairi meets this effort by throwing her right hand out and extending it's reach with aura so she can grab the handle of one of the swords before it could touch her, and once she was wrenched that free from his grasp she throws it away and flies back to dodge the other sword, which was swung with frustration behind it.

Gravitus hung his arm down and panted a bit, showing that he was draining too much of his energy to keep his body repaired, and after a loud roar he thrusts his sword forward to try and stab Kairi through the chest. Kairi casually raised an aura sword up and swung it out to deflect Gravitus' attack, then she used great speed to get behind Gravitus and blast him to the ground with a huge burst of aura extending out from both of her hands.

Gravitus lands firmly on the ground in front of the window, looking completely undignified as Kairi then proceeds to stab him through the body with even more swords while she lands on the ground. Kairi steps forward a little bit while Gravitus pulls himself up from the ground, pushing his body through the swords even as it pains him, and once he's standing up all the way he shatters the swords with a burst of aura and reconstructs his body back to perfect shape before turning around and facing Kairi, once again mocking her by saying "You can't do it…! Hahahaha! You can't bring yourself to kill-"

Kairi raised her right hand up and creates a very long sword capable of touching Gravitus' neck, and then she remarks "Shut up. You know why I haven't kill you yet Gravitus? Because I want answers, and you're going to give them to me now that you are getting too weak to fight." Gravitus lifts his head up slightly and laughs, even as his throat bulges against the tip of the sword from his every breath "How cute…Once more with these false words of yours. It's just another boast in the end…"

Widening her eyes, Kairi exclaimed "You're more than willing to run your mouth, so you should have no trouble telling me everything I want to hear!" Gravitus paused for a moment and then said "Hehehe…Even with the power of the Anti-Genesis Theorem inside of my body, I still didn't have enough strength to best the Neo Drive. This is impossible…That a brat with little experience using that mighty relic could best the strongest Aurian alive…Fine, you want to hear some truths? What is it that your heart desires to know of…?"

Kairi keeps the sword at Gravitus's neck and asks him bluntly "What did you mean when you said an Aurian is responsible for causing Alex Whiter to become the Phoenix of Destruction?" Gravitus widened his eyes for a moment and then smiled as wide as he could, laughing quietly for a few seconds before telling Kairi "The truth is closer than you think, dear daughter. In fact, you could even say it runs deep in our bloodline!"

"That's not good enough Gravitus! Tell me the damned truth!" Kairi says with the utmost frustration, and with a slight nudge of her right arm she was moment away from putting the blade to Gravitus' neck for good. Gravitus laughed loudly this time in response and exclaimed "Are you truly so dense?! What other answer could there possibly be to your question?! Let me tell you something…Two weeks ago, when you asked if I knew the truth of your sister's location…I was lying."

Kairi widened her eyes for a moment and showed a brief period of hesitation upon hearing that, but thought to call him out on this bluff with "Damn you, don't mess with me! You're lying through your teeth!" Gravitus widened his eyes and exclaimed "Am I?! You underestimate my capabilities…Or rather, the knowledge I had gained through my time with Master Justek! That day two years ago, I knew that your sister had left Sancturia…Because I made sure that Gabriel would drop the hint to her about Alex Whiter's existence."

Gravitus continued to grin while laughing further, telling Kairi as she looked on with a bit of shock on her face "Over these last two years, your sister traveled with Alex Whiter…Slowly but surely manipulating him into becoming the Phoenix of Destruction you know now, and ensuring a stable time loop of my existence by giving him a reason to despise the Aurians! All this, the freedom of my Master, the torment of your people…All of it can be traced back to the Catalyst of Destruction, the woman who ironically wanted nothing more than to save her people from destruction!"

"SHUT UP!" Kairi exclaimed in a fit of pure rage and with a swing of her sword she cut halfway through Gravitus' neck, but while he bleeds out slightly he just laughs it off and states "Hahahaha! So you do have the guts to do it after all! You can deny the truth all you want, but I do not lie, dear daughter! Shina Aurora is responsible for all of this!" Kairi's mind was racing at that very moment, thinking back to everything she had ever done with her sister. Those smiles were all genuine, the happy memories were genuine, there was never anything about Shina that would suggest that she could ever make Alex Whiter become the monster he was now.

Gravitus could see her mind wrapping around the doubts that were building up, and with a raising of his eyebrows as Kairi slowly dispels her sword "Hehehe…If you have any doubts, then don't you think it'd be best to ask Alex Whiter himself? He would know a lot more about the details than I would…I simply know of the end result. But considering the situation, why would you concern yourself the most with that?" Gravitus slowly lifts his left hand up against the back of the window while protecting the cut in his neck with aura.

By the time Kairi notices what Gravitus was doing, it was already too late, as he exclaimed "My ambitions shall not end here! Farewell, foolish daughter of mine!" Gravitus then blows the entire wall off, causing the vacuum of space to quickly come in and tug on Kairi and the Planetary Aurians, and while Gravitus makes his escape by flying outside the ship Kairi has to quickly firm her stance on the ground and throw her arms forward to create a gigantic aura wall capable of sealing the room up and preventing the Planetary Aurians from being sent out.

Kairi, still shaken up a bit by what Gravitus stated on top of the brief presence of space, panted a little bit and then was able to make a permanent wall of energy seal up the way outside the ship. She then clenched her fists tightly and let out a quiet but angered "Damn it…Not again…" in regards to Gravitus' survival once more. Kairi then turned around and saw all the Planetary Aurians were spread about from the brief vacuum pull, commenting as she looked at their auras "…They are still alive, thank god…"

After a pause, Kairi put a melancholic look on her face and then laid a hand against her chest, thinking back to the times she had spent with her older sister Shina. _"Don't ever give up hope. Fight as hard as you can no matter what struggles come your way, and one day we'll see each other again."_ Those words echoed in her mind for a bit while her hand quivered and a single tear trickled down her cheek. Gritting her teeth slightly, Kairi murmured to herself "Gravitus…Couldn't have been telling the truth…It's impossible…"

As the image of Shina's smile appeared in her mind, there was a brief second where Kairi saw her with a grim expression including blood on her face and violet eyes. Flinching with a skipping beat of her heart, Kairi shook her head and dispelled the Neo Drive for now, and after lifting her head she noticed that another door has showed up, this one likely leading into another area of the ship. Lowering her eyebrows Kairi vowed to herself without hesitation "I'll do it…! I'll force the answers out of Alex myself, no matter what it takes! I refuse to believe that Shina could ever have done anything wrong, it's impossible!"

Before she left the room, Kairi looked around at the Planetary Aurians and remarked with a nervous smile "Sorry guys…I'll have to come back later. I need to head off…To not just get the answers from Alex Whiter, but to stop Justek once and for all…" Kairi ran for the door and went through it after it opened, but unbeknownst to her, Gravitus had not gone very far away from the ship. He was floating outside the edge of the wall he pushed off, enough aura wrapped around himself so he could speak.

He had a hand held to the scar on his neck while trying to mend it together, remarking in a slightly disgruntled voice "It's such a pain in the ass…" With a slight grin on his face he stated "To loathe your own daughter…And yet be so proud of what she has accomplished at the same time. Bah…" Surprisingly, Gravitus was being quite honest in his pride towards his daughter, but of course he would never directly say this in front of her. With a grin on his face, Gravitus remarks "But I cannot abandon my ambitions now…I have come too far. Just you wait Master Justek, I shall join you in battle soon enough…"

 _Next Time: Confrontation of Destruction and Balance_


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21: Destruction and Balance**

After his quick but emotionally draining battle on Mercury, Riku followed Justek's suggestions and began to fly his way around the edge of the sun, moving fast enough to escape it's gravitational pull even after using Genesis Form sapped some of the strength from his body. In time, Riku found the ship that Justek mentioned, and like Mew and Kairi was surprised by it's odd appearance. His eyes focused in on one of the door on the right side of the ship, not knowing that this would be a different entrance point than what Mew and Kairi used.

Before getting close to the ship, Riku focused on the area with the glass dome to it, and with a squint of his eyes he presumed that Justek prepared that area for the final battle with him. Riku clenched his fists tightly and thought to himself _"So this is where the final battle will take place…Why would you create a ship for us to fight in, Justek? You still haven't revealed your true goals, and that worries me."_ Riku then widened his eyes as he felt a surge of elemental energy coming from within the ship.

"That must be brother's energy…If he's gotten into a fight, then I need to catch up with him quickly! Hang on, brother…!" Riku grit his teeth slightly and flew straight for the door, landing on the platform in front of it and running forward as it opens up, allowing him to sprint through the wide hallways towards the location he sensed the elemental energy coming from. Along the way though, Vortexians began to appear in front of him, all of them ones he had seen so far today. Riku drew his sword and exclaimed "Out of my way!"

He then leaped into the air and used his full power along with a great deal of speed to slice through hundreds of feet of air at once to cut down all of the Vortexians, dispelling his sword and sprinting forward as they exploded behind him, his eyebrows slanted to show how focused he was on the path ahead. He cared nothing about the surroundings and just either dodged or destroyed all of the Vortexians in his way without so much as looking at them, until he made it to a door at the end of a curved, descending hallway.

The energy was surging the highest behind the door, and Riku wasted no time in just using a large flaming punch to just break the door down without a hint of patience on his mind. But being just a little bit reckless forced him to lean back before a wave of fire nearly struck him. As Riku raised his head up and leaned forward slightly, he realized that he should've been a little more careful in examining who the elemental energy belonged to, as it wasn't his brother who was responsible for the surging energy…At the very least, not the one he cared to admit was his brother.

It was Alex Whiter who stood in the middle of this room that appeared to be connected to a few other hallways, and with blade drawn in hand he kept slicing away at the Vortexians that were attempting to do away with him without any restraint. His flames spread out from every slice he made, filling the room with their red and orange destructive beauty to the extent it was hard to make out Alex's expressions of madness as he fought. Riku kept his distance for the time being and watched on with contempt from the side of the door he broke through until Alex cleared the room of Vortexians, panting out of a frighteningly abnormal ecstasy as he stood there limping and sweating out of the sheer glee that flowed through his mind.

Riku thought to himself as he held his right hand tightly in front of his chest and appeared ready to summon his sword _"Now is my chance…Just look at that monster standing there enjoying all this…"_ Alex then suddenly raised his head up and glanced towards Riku's location before remarking bluntly "If you are going to just waste your time observing, then get out of here you shitty little dust mite."

" _Damn it…! He noticed me…So much for a sneak attack. But even still…"_ Riku thought to himself before easing his muscles, trying to hide his killing intent as he poked out from behind the door and walked towards Alex, keeping at least a cautious mind on him as he stopped ten feet in front of him. While he couldn't attack Alex quite yet, that didn't restrain Riku from remarking "So whatever Justek sent you to fight didn't finish you off. I guess he took it easy on you, didn't he?"

"You sound disappointed…But I don't see why you'd be surprised too. Justek should have known better than to set that pathetic remnant of the Dark King after me…" Alex commented without a care in the world as he stood upright and dispelled his sword, not even putting an eye towards Riku's general direction, with Riku widening his own eyes and remarking "So he even had Joe Dark under his control, you're saying? Justek sure got to them quickly considering he wasn't free from his cage for long…"

"Them…? Fufufu…Oh, he probably took control of someone else as well for your opponent. Whatever…Like I really need to care about that." Alex commented, and Riku bluntly told him "One of the people he was controlling was that reality bending alien. Does that not at all concern you?" Alex just quickly reared his head back and burst into a rough laughter, telling Riku bluntly "Oh please…As though that alien could threaten me now, not when I have the Gaia Temporis on my side."

"…Right, it's power to passively reject reality altering changes to it's user. There's more than one way to get around that though." Riku felt the need to point out, and Alex just glared at him while holding his head back in order to say "And you, you little urchin, don't seem to get Justek's intentions here then. If his plan was to do us any lasting harm, then the moment he controlled that pathetic little alien, you, that irritating replica, and that stupid girl would be wiped from existence. Do you have it in you to understand at least that much?"

Riku glared at Alex with widened eyes, but hated to admit that the boy had a point there. Even so, Riku asked Alex "Then what the hell DOES he want? You seem to know what he's up to here…After all…" Riku brandished a pointer finger at Alex and exclaimed "Don't think I will ever forget the fact that you willingly let that monster out of his cage in the first place!" Alex just shook his head slightly as he lifted it back up, remarking in a nonchalant but callous tone "Yes yes, you won't even begin to shut up about that you little shitstain."

Alex's attempts at insults weren't doing anything to force Riku's anger, and both parties knew that all too well. Alex leaned his head forward and grinned as he looked at Riku, telling him bluntly "You still keep calling me a monster as well…At least that's what that piercing glare of yours says all too well. And yet how can you keep doing that?" Riku glared at him in turn and said "You think I'm ever going to think otherwise? Are you seriously going to go on about being righteous in this situation? To hell with that…"

Alex turned his body to face Riku all the way and then held his arms out, remarking as he floated a bit off the ground "I am righteousness incarnate. I am the only one who can save this universe from itself and the filth that plagues it." Riku laid a hand against his forehead and remarked after a brief sigh "Yeah, like I haven't already seen a couple of villains who thought that way, even if they just did so on a planetary scale. That methodology never makes sense to me…You can never save anything if there's nothing left. Even if you contradict that part by keeping yourself alive, then your plan is basically to just save yourself. So either you're taking everyone out in a universal suicide, or just being the most selfish bastard to ever exist. Either way, there's no justification for your actions."

Alex grinned widely and remarked "You only say that because you think with such a small scope in regards to such things…It's not like death is the end. The afterlife exists, after all. And in the end all I'm doing is getting those who have committed crimes to rightfully burn in hell while those who have somehow devoid themselves of sin in this rotten universe can walk through the gates of paradise without remorse in their hearts." Riku just pulled the hand away from his face and with eyebrows raised remarked dryly "You have to be joking. You can't possibly be serious about that."

"Oh I am quite serious, I assure you. Do you really have a problem with me giving people paradise while the sinners burn? In the end, we are supposed to keep the balance in this universe, you of all-" Riku held his right hand in front of himself and exclaimed "Don't you even start with me on that, Phoenix of Destruction. How can you dare go on preaching about balance when you've done nothing but sow destruction and chaos with your actions recently? I don't know why I was chosen to be named the Phoenix of Balance, but I refuse to accept that moniker if it means letting the wicked get away with their crimes…At the same time though, there is no way in HELL I would ever bring myself to let an innocent die."

"Says the fool who let that pathetic Hero of Time perish at the hands of the Demon King." Alex's words made Riku freeze for a moment before remarking while trying his hardest to keep his composure "You…know about that?" Alex raised his right hand up in front of his face and cast a flame above his palm that depicted an artistic representation of the scene in question, remarking in a gleeful tone "Oh I do…I've seen it all, in fact. I made sure of it…"

Riku lowered his eyebrows a bit and remarked "Right…The Gaia Temporis yet again. So what of it…? I made my mistakes back then, and you can't hold one death against me compared to the billions of lives you took." Alex clenched his fingers to put away the flames and remarked "You call it murder, I call it liberation…But the point I'm trying to make is this…You look down upon my actions for being wrong…That the act of killing everyone in the universe is immoral…But let me tell you this…."

Alex looked Riku directly in the eyes and remarked with a slight scowl on his face "You have no right to damn me for what I'm doing when those accursed 'higher-ups' keep sitting on those damn pearly thrones of theirs and damn universe after universe. And for what, THEIR pathetic idea of balance? Bullshit…It's all just a load of bullshit that needs to be put to an end." Riku closed his eyelids a little and then remarked "Yeah, I know what those 'higher-ups' are capable of. But the universe doesn't have to be sacrificed just because of your vendetta against them, if that's what you're suggesting. Just deal with the 'higher-ups' themselves."

Alex just widened his eyes and reared his head back with heavy laughter before exclaiming "You are SUCH an idiot! You think it's so easy to deal with those three bastards?! I saw them face-to-face and could do NOTHING. You can't put an end to their damn ideals with just fists or magic! The only way to stop them is to rob them of their purposes!" Riku shook his head a bit and remarked a moment later "So let me get this straight…Your goals are to destroy everything so you can punish the wicked and offer salvation to the pure, stop the 'higher-ups', and get revenge on those who have wronged you?"

"Well well, you figured most of it out. I am quite surprised that you have an iota of intelligence to your name." Alex commented, and then he turned around and walked towards the window on the other side of the room that looked out towards deep space. Raising his arms up and looking out the window, Alex commented "To return everything to nothingness, that is the purpose of the Phoenix of Destruction. Hahahah…Those 'higher-up' fools didn't want me to exist for that very reason, and did everything in their power to single out the one Alex Whiter who would become that very being across the entire multiverse…And if it weren't for a few key words from myself, they would have succeeded. But they missed their chance to put an end to this, and soon enough…Justek Arcavira shall put an end to this universe and the 'higher-ups' for me!"

Riku had almost forgotten about that man in the midst of all this bullshit Alex had been spewing, and now that the mention came up Riku raised his eyebrows and commented "Yeah, that's right…How does Justek fit into all this? You've been dodging this issue for a while now…Just how exactly is Justek going to fulfill your goals, Phoenix of Destruction?" Alex glanced over his shoulder with a grin and commented "Oh you'll find out soon enough…"

Alex then turns back around and comments while hunching over slightly "And of course, I plan to kill Justek once he's done my job for me. Within the next hour, the universe as you know it won't exist." Riku remarks quietly afterwards with "Of course, you plan to kill me, my brother, and Kairi as well once this is all over." Alex lifted his head up and said after a callous laugh "Naturally…That is why I've had no qualms sharing all this information with you, because in the end it will be useless. You can't stop what's coming, no matter how hard you try."

Alex held his arms out, and the way he raised his eyebrows and grinned showed he was pretending to be defenseless to goad Riku into attacking. _"Not yet…"_ He thought to himself before he raised his head up slightly and remarked "Ok, I've let you have your way in this conversation for a while, but I got some things I have to say now." He then brandishes his right pointer finger at Alex and commented "There is no justification for anything you are doing. Sure, the 'higher-ups' methods are horrible, and they should be stopped…But to drag an entire universe into this conflict? Do you not realize how damn selfish your actions have been, Phoenix of Destruction?"

"Again with that-" Alex is immediately stopped when Riku remarked "Shut up. Do you also realize that not everyone in this universe CARES about what's going on with the 'higher-ups'? A lot of them are living their lives unaware of what's going on outside their own planets, a lot of them very likely ENJOYING the peace they have right now. I cannot deny that there are sinful people out there, and some worlds likely are suffering from chaos…But either those worlds will sort themselves out, or we will do whatever we can to help."

Alex scowled a bit at what Riku was saying to show the blunt disdain he had for those words, but Riku just kept going without a care as he got a bit louder and said "Mortality exists for a reason, Phoenix of Destruction. We live, then we die, and once we move on we are judged for what we did in our lives. See, that's just another thing that separates me and my brother from you, Phoenix of Destruction. You see yourself as God, you want to bring the Rapture down upon the universe because you believe it's not worth keeping alive anymore. But you aren't doing this as a means of salvation for anyone, and I can't believe you'd think for a moment that I would ever listen to what you have to say."

"Hehehe…It was worth a try though. You are so stubbornly annoying, I must say. Completely different from your so-called brother, but annoying all the same…" Alex remarked without so much as a hint of hesitation in dropping the act he had, and Riku remarked "I figured out what you were up to with all that when you said you saw everything I did in my life. You were trying to play on my personality in some very twisted fashion, but here's the thing…"

Riku lowered his arm and remarked bluntly while giving Alex the firmest glare from his eyes "You contradicted yourself twice. You say you wanted to save the innocents, but your entire plan to free Justek hinged entirely on attacking and destroying a city to lure out my brother. The other contradiction is that you destroyed the Marvel Universe, and that had nothing to do with any salvation. You were just angrily trying to kill a single girl…A girl by the name of Shina Aurora, isn't that right?"

Alex suddenly widened his eyes and exclaimed "Where did you hear that name from?!" It was legitimate fury topped off by some large flames erupting out from around his body, and while Riku flinched slightly he had a bit of a smile on his face from hitting one of Alex's nerves. Unfortunately, Alex completely calmed down with a few heavy pants, remarking afterwards while grasping his forehead "Of course…That witch Auris told you, didn't she?"

"So what if she did? It's a good thing she told me the truth…Because then I could truly see how pathetic and depraved your motives truly are." Riku said without a hint of mercy in his voice, with Alex saying just a moment later "Ridiculous…You don't have any right to jud-" "Enough with that already! If that girl Shina tried to kill you, I imagine it's not without good reason. I can understand being mad at her for that, but you tried to drag the wh-"

Alex's eyes turned dark red with flames erupting out of them before he exclaimed in an echoing tone of voice "YOU THINK THIS IS JUST ABOUT HER?!" Riku feels the shockwave of Alex's raw power erupt from him as he began to step forward, each foot landing on the ground releasing a small shockwave of flames as he remarked "That bitch betrayed me…She tore my heart to pieces and took my life! After all we did together, she threw it all away and for what?! I don't even know why the hell she did this! She killed me and didn't even have the goddamn balls to tell me WHY! But if you think my hatred extends to just her, then no!"

Alex stopped moving and removed the flames from his body before exclaiming "That damn witch that lies on the grey…Bringing havoc across the universe without being able to be stopped because neutral beings are not within our jurisdiction! BULLSHIT, that is all BULLSHIT! For all the damnation she deserves, I should be allowed to rend that witch limb from limb as many times as I want, but instead I have to do this! I have no choice but to destroy everything…To punish that witch, to kill that traitorous whore, to put an end to all these damn laws the 'higher-ups' have put into effect on this poisonous universe! That's what this is all about!"

Riku stood his ground in the face of Alex's maddened rant and remarked "What do you mean by a witch?" Alex remarked with a smug look on his head "Why don't you just ask that witch you actually do know? Assuming of course she won't just hide the truth as always…Oh wait, you won't be able to, especially since soon all will come to an end." Riku glared at Alex and told him "Like hell I'll allow you to succeed. Besides, you think you can take me and my brother on together?"

"Hahaha…Like your brother is any concern, especially with the way he is now." Alex remarked, and Riku out of curiosity once again remarked "What do you mean by that? What have you done to him?!" Suspecting manipulation, Riku suddenly erupted into anger as Alex started laughing a little louder and held his right hand out, remarking in an arrogant tone "You suspect that I have done something to change your brother, haven't you? Please, my plan wouldn't work at all if I did anything to him now…"

Alex grinned a little and remarked "You don't know of that technique, do you? I learned of it during my time wandering Plit and examining the Overlord's tablets…Basically, it's called Elemental Synchronization…If two Elemental Overlords with vastly different personalities connect, then a more powerful being can be created. For all the parts of him that are worthless, the fact that the replica kept his incredibly useless optimism means that he is completely different from myself. He's the perfect candidate for synchronization."

"And you think that would happen ever? Mew would never join with you on anything!" Riku exclaimed, and Alex laid his right fingers against his forehead and remarked "He would if he believes he'd be able to be useful. He's in such a devastated state right now, believing he can't accomplish enough on his own…The Syncrhonization doesn't require the two to have equal strength, so even such an imperfect speck like him could do something. If somehow, above all else Justek's efforts do not get rid of that traitor or that witch, then your so-called brother will be the perfect tool to finish the job."

Riku gripped his right hand tightly, his anger rising before he suddenly lunged at Alex and summoned his sword, pointing it at Alex's forehead while exclaiming "My brother…is not…A TOOL! He's a living being, a living being you created! He's honored to call me his brother despite the fact that I'm just a clone, but you have NEVER shown him that same sentiment! You don't care about anyone or anything Alex Whiter, and you never should have been given the Elemental Overlord's powers! That's a mistake that I plan to fix here and NOW!"

Alex did not even flinch with Riku's sword close to his face, and in fact raised a hand up and pushed the blade down while remarking with a face of pure glee "You don't have it in you to kill me. Even if you did, you wouldn't be able to. I am beyond you…Far, FAR beyond you…" Riku widened his eyes a bit and held a glare towards Alex, and after a few seconds he remarked "…You might be right…The power of the Phoenix Form…The soul shields…The Gaia Temporis. All those allowed you to defeat even The Living Tribunal."

Alex just kept looking arrogantly at Riku, and Riku's heart began to pound against his chest as he realized the situation he was in. He had a chance to end Alex's life here and now, and there was absolutely no reason to keep him alive. His fingers twitched on his right hand as he looked Alex Whiter straight in the eyes, with him saying a moment later "Come now then…You said it yourself…You know you can't win." Riku paused for a moment and closed his eyelids, remarking while slowly trying to calm himself down "You're right…I can't beat the powers you have, Phoenix of Destruction."

Alex chuckled quietly for a couple seconds, but then Riku remarked "But I can beat the arrogant man who wields them." Riku then wasted no time in blindsiding Alex by pulling back on his sword and creating a heavy vacuum that drags some air out of Alex's lungs and causes him to be stunned by the pain of such a sudden loss, Riku then swings his sword back and thinks to himself as every second seems to crawl before his eyes _"I have to act fast…Can't miss a single opportunity here."_

Riku dispels his sword as Alex widens his eyes and appeared ready to release his full power all at once, but Riku stops that by lunging both of his palms into Alex's stomach to stun him and push him back a couple of feet. _"Can't let him go all-out…Can't let him touch the Gaia Temporis…If either one of those things happen, it's over for me now…"_ Riku's mind raced as he quickly went for Alex's right arm, grabbing both his shoulder and his wrist and twisting it hard enough to break the bones inside, preventing him from moving the arm down into his pocket to grab the Gaia Temporis.

Riku was leaning forward slightly at this point as he glared up at Alex's face, which writhed slightly from the pain Riku was inflicting on him. With a fierce look in his eyes, Riku kept things going by raising his right arm up and smashing it against Alex's face, blasting him with enough fire to send him flying across the room, where he slammed back first against the wall and lurched forward, stunned slightly as saliva shot out from his mouth. Riku then drew his sword again and quickly got into his Chaos Form in the few seconds that he had, and as he swung his right arm in front of his chest with his wings spread he thinks to himself _"Just a little more…"_

Alex's feet landed on the ground, and he raised his left hand up slightly ready for attack only for Riku to swing his right arm out and send a series of chains made of pure light and darkness out from the ether, all of them moving so fast that Alex could not even ignite a spark before they all wrapped around his body and chained him to the wall, a couple of the chains stabbing through Alex's limbs to make sure his body was inflicted with enough pain to keep him from trying anything else.

Alex was kept upright against the wall, with only the middle of his face kept revealed. He had the biggest scowl on his face and the utmost fury burning from his eyes, but he could not even budge an inch. All the flames he tried to erupt from his body faded out quickly, all the while Riku slowly walked towards Alex with his diamond katana in his right hand and a firm expression on his face. Alex's growls grew louder and louder, more furious and untamed…But Riku just remained calm as he approached him, remarking quietly as he did so "I've been waiting for this for what feels like years…Even if it's only been a couple of months."

Alex stared Riku dead in the eyes and said in a deep, gargling tone "You…bastard…!" Riku didn't change his expression in the slightest and commented "If I chose to take you head-on, you would have killed me before I could have gotten the chance to use my other forms. Now I get the second meaning behind Auris' words…It wasn't just telling me of the consequences of preventing Justek's release…It was a warning on how to handle you. To defeat an arrogant monster like you, I had no choice but to play dirty myself, and take advantage of that very arrogance to strike."

Riku stopped and raised the katana to Alex's neck, and Alex just grinned and said "I-If you kill me…You-You will become just li-" Riku widened his eyes and said "No. You can't use that argument against me. I'm in control of myself…I know what type of person I am, what I'm capable of, and what I'm meant to do. I will never become a vicious killer like you. I have the capacity to care about others, the capacity to change, and the only lives I will take are those who would truly harm the peace of this universe. You will not lay a finger on anyone else ever again, Alex Whiter. No more heroes, no more innocents, no one will ever have their blood shed or burned by you ever again!"

Riku swings his sword out beside himself and then raised it above his head, widening his eyes and exclaiming simply "Now perish for good…PHOENIX OF DESTRUCTION!" Riku ignited his katana with the brightest of light and swung it down with vengeance in his eyes, and Alex could only stay there and let out a hoarse scream as the blade got right in front of his body. It was a certain end, and Riku thought to himself as the katana went down _"You'll be safe now brother…He'll never torment you again."_

But as the katana finished the swing fully, Alex was not even touched by the light from the blade, with a thin barrier appearing between Riku and Alex to block the attack. Riku widened his eyes for a moment, mostly out of sheer disbelief that his attack did not go through at first. His mind could not comprehend what could have stopped him at first until the barrier slowly dropped, and Riku could hear a faint panting coming from the left of him…A panting that was definitely familiar.

Riku lifted his head up and looked to see that Kairi was standing there with her hands held out, panting a bit as she clearly strained herself to, of all things, protect Alex with a shield of aura. Kairi nearly fell forward because it used up a lot of aura to hold back Riku's Chaos Form power. Riku, without any understanding of what was going on, quickly exclaimed "Kairi, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Kairi fought through her exhaustion to state "R-Riku…H-Hold on…Listen to me…"

Riku ignored Kairi and quickly pointed his katana again at Alex, this time trying to cut his throat, only for Kairi to swing her arms up while exclaiming "NO!" She managed to create another barrier from aura to stop Riku's attack, and this time Riku widened his eyes in anger and turned his katana on Kairi and stated "Why are you doing this?! Alex has to die!" Kairi panted some more and said "N-Not yet…I-"

Riku quickly tried to cut Alex's throat again, but this time Kairi set up another barrier and ran forward as best as she could, getting in between Riku and Alex and swinging her arms out while exclaiming "JUST HEAR ME OUT DAMN IT!" She then began coughing from further exhaustion, and Riku raised his left hand up and summoned a series of light swords pointed at both Kairi and Alex. "I'm giving you one chance Kairi…" Riku remarked coldly.

Kairi just stared Riku down without fear and told him "So much for your talk…If you are going to threaten me, but fine…I-I was listening to most of your conversation…A-And as much as I hate to keep this bastard alive…H-He's probably the only link I have to finding out where my sister is at." Riku widened his eyes for a moment and remarked "Wait…What are you saying?" Kairi glanced back at the rather stunned Alex Whiter and commented "Gravitus…Told me everything I needed to know…He said you were traveling with my sister for the last two years."

Alex grinned a little bit and remarked "Heh…hehe….So that stubborn puppet continued to live after all…What a damn shame, he should have stayed dead…And just what makes you think that I will tell you anything?" Kairi paused for a moment then turned herself fully to face Alex, glancing over her shoulder in order to say to Riku "Please…Can you put your trust in me for now and just wrap the chains around Alex's arms, making certain they stay behind his back?"

Riku thought over what Kairi could possibly be planning here, and decided to trust her. Carefully pulling the chains off of Alex save for a couple around his arms just like Kairi ordered, Riku witnessed how Alex's limbs were drenched in blood now from being stabbed through by the chains, but ignore that as Kairi reached into her shorts and pulled out that healing vial her mother gave her. Riku's heart skipped a beat, but he chose to let her go through with putting the vial up to Alex's mouth, feeding him part of the aura so his body could be healed of the wounds Riku inflicted upon him.

Kairi then put the vial away while Alex looked her in the eyes with the most uncaring grin and remarked "You think…Showing me assistance will change anything? I hate you Aurians above everything else in this damn universe…I will tell you nothing but how much I HATE every last one of you. So what exactly do you think have you accomplished?" Kairi closed her eyelids and smiled brightly, causing Alex to flinch bitterly for a moment before Kairi laid a hand against Alex's chest. There was a sudden pulse that came out from Kairi's palm, and Alex felt his chest clench tightly in pain.

Kairi opened her eyelids and gave Alex a piercing glare, whispering to him as she pulled the hand away from my chest "Because if you don't give me what you want, I will stop your heart by clenching the aura around it. Then that just means I'll have finished what my sister started…" Alex raised his head up and remarked as he was recovering from the pain in his chest "You…have that killer look in your eyes…Hehehe, just like that bitch…."

"Hmph, Gravitus would tell you otherwise…Whatever, just stay quiet now, we got more important things to deal with now." Kairi remarked before turning around to look at Riku casually, while Alex just reared his head back and began laughing uncontrollably after what just went down over the last few minutes. Kairi and Riku both ignored that, with Riku inquiring "So I guess we'll just have to drag him along with us, huh?" Kairi nodded her head in response to that.

"I can maintain the chains outside of Chaos Form, and you can keep him weakened with that shockwave to his heart…But we should really catch up with my brother now. Where did you see him last?" Riku inquired, and Kairi remarked a moment later "He split up from me at the entrance…He's probably pretty far into the ship by now. In fact-" Suddenly, the ship shook up immensely, as though a gigantic explosion went off within it. Kairi and Riku both stumbled in surprise for a little bit before the tremors came to an end.

The two looked at each other before Kairi commented "Mew must be fighting someone!" Riku glanced towards the door to the north and remarked ""Hopefully…He didn't run into Justek already. Come on, lets catch up with him!" Riku went out of Chaos Form and sprinted for the door, while Kairi forced Alex over her right shoulder and carried him along with him as he continued to laugh maniacally at the whole situation…

 _Next Time: A Worth to Prove_


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Trial of the Eclipsing Universe**

Mew was all alone now, just him running through the entirety of the Justek's ship until he ran into something or someone he'd have to fight. All these hallways had no defining features to them, but Mew was in no way getting lost within this ship. He could just feel that something was waiting for him at the very end of the ship, and whether it was Justek or not was not something he could figure out from here. With a firm expression on his face Mew remarked "Lunis and Solaris are still out there…More than likely I'll have to deal with them both before we can face Justek himself."

Needless to say that thought made Mew feel more than a little nervous, with his heart beating against his chest at a steady pace as he continued to run through the ship, encountering some Vortexians that he cut down without saying a word. _"I can do this…I'm strong enough to make a difference in this battle, that's what I have to believe in."_ Mew tried to motivated himself to the best of his ability, thinking back to what everyone else's stakes were in this battle.

" _Kairi wants to protect her people, Riku wants to stop Alex, and Alex himself even wants something out of all this…It's horrible, but even so…"_ Mew ends up in front of a towering staircase as he finishes this thought, and upon widening his eyes for a moment he finds him contemplating something for a moment "…What is my stake in all this? Just to protect my home world? Can I really think so small now, when Justek is someone who could threaten the whole universe?"

Mew widens his eyes and then slaps himself across the face hard enough to leave a red mark for a moment, chuckling afterwards and saying "I'm being stupid here…There is no bigger stake than saving the entire universe. Though I guess it does kind of lose a bit of impact since I already did that once before…Bah, got to stop thinking about that, I also promised Kairi I'd live so we could relax properly after this all blows over…I got plenty of stakes in this battle, I can't let myself be swayed by my own mind to think otherwise."

Mew then runs up the staircase as fast as he possibly could, making it to the top in a matter of seconds where a gigantic spiral door gets in his way. As the door opens up, Mew clenches his fists, takes a gulp of saliva and remarks to himself "There was no turning back the moment Alex showed up again…Lets finish this!" Mew swings his right hand out and leaped through the door the moment enough space was opened up, summoning his sword into the grasp of his hand as he landed on the ground and slid forward a bit.

Lifting his head up, Mew saw a gigantic window that gave a perfect view of the sun in all of it's glory along with a brief overlook at the domed arena that Mew and Kairi had seen from the outside of the ship. Otherwise, this room was just as blank as the other parts of the ship, but was open up enough for a battle to occur inside of it. And a battle was certain to occur, as standing in front of the window was both Solaris and Lunis, though until they heard Mew leaping into the room their backs were turned to him.

Since he knew this was coming, Mew was only briefly surprised, though it wasn't until both Solaris and Lunis glanced over their shoulders that Mew was easily taken aback by the fact that Lunis was a girl…Something Riku had neglected to mention when they met up again. But there was no time to comment on the gender at the moment, as Solaris let out a blunt scoff and remarked while the two siblings turned themselves around all the way "Oh great, father got this weakling to fight us."

Lunis glanced at Solaris and said quietly "I really hope you weren't expecting to fight the Phoenix of Destruction again after father took the time to mind-control the new Dark King." Solaris reached to his back and grabbed the handle of the sword with barely any motivation at first as he remarked "Yeah yeah sis, but instead father leaves us with the weakest of the bunch? I mean geez, that's really disappointing…"

"That's not what we're supposed to be worrying about, brother, and you know it. We're the last line of defense preventing them from getting to father." Lunis says while raising a finger to reprimand her brother, and then she turns to look at Mew, who was blinking a couple times in confusion. Interpreting the expression on his face the wrong way, Lunis bluntly remarked "Don't tell me you're reacting the same way as your brother to my appearance. Last thing I need is another one of you to hold back."

Mew widened his eyes and shook his head slight before commenting with a gesture of his hand out beside himself "Nothing like that, it's just that I'm seeing your sibling dynamic in a new light now. Your brother must really respect you if he didn't bother to bring up your gender at all until now, and I'm not going to question why you chose to hide it." Solaris gripped the handle of his sword tightly and swung it in front of himself to hit the ground before remarking "Yeah, well you better not try anything now that you know!"

Mew shrugged his shoulders and said in a humored tone while holding his sword in front of him "Why would I? I already have the right kind of girl in my life." Lunis then quickly takes a moment to punch Solaris in his right cheek, looking a bit embarrassed as she stutters out "Y-You don't need to be saying stuff like that anyways, brother." Mew was humored by that little exchange from those two, especially when Solaris' arrogance is replaced by a bit of fluster because of his sister's sudden hit.

After Mew chuckled, he decided to ask the deity siblings "Say, can I ask you two something?" Solaris and Lunis both glanced at Mew and asked at once "What?" in a very blunt tone of voice. Mew could sense a bit of annoyance from them but nevertheless chose to inquire "Whatever it is your father is doing, do you both agree with it?"

Solaris widened his eyes and exclaimed "And just why are you asking that?!" Lunis was looking a little more reclusive though, something Mew picked up quickly but at first remarked "I'm just thinking that you guys both seem to be doing all of this to impress your father. It doesn't exactly excuse what happened to my planet today, but you both don't seem to be that bad otherwise. Look, if nothing else, Lunis there seems to have something to say about what I asked."

Solaris took a moment to glance at his sister and see the hesitation on her face, and with a raising of his eyebrows he inquired in a concerned voice "Hey, you alright there sis?" Lunis widened her eyes and then glared at Mew, telling him as she raised her right hand up and remarked "W-Well of course I don't fully agree with what father is doing! How can I when he's putting his life on the line while his children are still alive?!"

The sudden outburst caught Solaris off-guard, and Lunis quickly glared at him and remarked "You can't tell me you don't feel the same way. For all your toughness, you love father just as much as I do!" Solaris grit his teeth a bit and glanced around awkwardly, and seemingly ignoring Mew for the moment he leaned towards his sister and whispered "Come on sis, can we not do this right now?" Lunis bonked Solaris on his forehead and told him while looking angered "Yes we can! Father might not even be alive after today, do you not get that?!"

Solaris stabs his sword into the ground and grasps his hand around the handle tightly before remarking "Of course I know that, damn it!" His aura flares up brightly for a moment before he swings right left hand in front of his chest and exclaims with widened eyes "That's why I want to be strong, so father doesn't have to fight, so father might not have to be killed!" Lunis just paused in shock for a moment before glancing away from her brother and looking rather guilt-ridden for accusing Solaris.

Mew tilts his head slightly and remarks "You two have to defeat me then. If you want to save your father, then it's important above all else that you win." Both siblings looked at Mew, surprised that in a way he was taking their side. Mew then clasped his sword tightly and raised it up while putting a finger on the white trigger, pulling onto it so light began to flow over him, and as this radiance created a gale that flowed over his body he said "But I have something to fight for as well…So it's also important to me above all else that I win!" Mew transforms into his Light Form after the radiance washed over him entirely, and after he swung his diamond katana beside himself he exclaimed "So come on you two! We shall hold nothing back in our fight! If we do, won't the people expecting us to win be ashamed?"

Lunis and Solaris both widened their eyes for a moment, and then nodded their heads. Lunis pulled out a couple of her kunai and leaned forward while Solaris pulled his sword from the ground and said "Well well, maybe you aren't so damn weak after all, Phoenix of Rebirth! Alright, but just know that you asked for us to go all-out from the start!" Lunis exclaims "We fight for our father, for his survival and ours as a family! We'll take on as many of you Elemental Overlords as it takes to keep him with us!"

At once, both siblings charged their energies up, with Solaris' flames glowing bright around his body while Lunis was drenched in a silver radiance as beautiful as the moon itself. Mew could feel their power washing over him as he stood in place, and he could not describe the beating of his heart at that very moment. Whether it was born of fear or excitement, Mew could only bear a grin and whisper "Alright…Then lets do this…"

Mew and two siblings charged each other at once, and there is an increasing explosion of bright light from the center of the impact before Mew zips right out of it and slices his katana across the air to fend off some rapidly fired kunais from Lunis. Solaris flies behind him and punches Mew in the back with his right elbow, but instead of being thrown to the ground Mew puts up a great deal of resistance against Solaris' attack despite the heavy flames he pushes out. Mew turns around and uses his left wind along with some light to hold back Lunis' attacks while swinging his katana to cut Solaris across his chest, but doesn't manage to get past his armor

Solaris responds to this by pulling back enough to be able to swing his sword out and send out one large wave of fire that basks over Mew's body and pushes him back while he reacts by feeling a bit of pain. Solaris waves his sword out again and sends out a little more flames, but this time Mew reacts by using the light to create a barrier to push them away. Lunis however zips off the ground and slices horizontally in two directions across Mew's back, but cannot get close enough to his skin to draw blood.

Mew knew she was close though, and one more quick attack would be enough to get the job done. Mew drops to the ground in an instant and stabs the ground, unleashing a pillar of light up towards Lunis in an attempt to attack her. Lunis summons a reflective barrier to direct the light towards Solaris, who ignites his hulking sword with a huge amount of flames to hold back the light while Lunis drops to the ground and with five kunais connected together she whips into Mew's pillar in an attempt to pull him out.

Lunis feels resistance though as Mew pushes the light away from his body and reveals he's grabbed onto the handle of the last kunai with his right hand, holding the katana in his left one. Lunis widened her eyes and gasped before Mew pulled her towards him, but Lunis takes advantage of being in mid-air to create a clone of herself above her body that presses down on her back to force the original to the ground before Mew could swing his katana at her. Needless to say, Mew was surprise by this technique for a moment and thinks to himself _"You could've told me about this Riku!"_

The Lunis clone then holds herself in mid-air and throws a series of replicated kunais out towards Mew while the original uses her hands to flip back onto her feet and kneel down slightly, putting a kunai between the fingers she swings in front of her face while Mew throws the five kunais away and summons a barrier of light to protect the bombardment of projectiles from the clone. By this point Solaris had fully stopped Mew's light and was ready to rejoin the fight, and Lunis nods her head alongside her brother.

Lunis swings her kunais out in front of her and creates eight slicing threads out from the blades that curved across the air and sliced through Mew's barrier, shattering it apart and giving Solaris enough time to drop down and swing his sword up diagonally to cleave across Mew's back and cut through his armor, singing his left wind in the process and using enough force to send him flying through the air towards Lunis. Using her nimbleness as a ninja, Lunis leans back and lays her hands on the ground before kicking her feet upward, striking Mew in the chest to knock him upward without throwing a single bone or muscle of hers out of alignment.

Solaris then leaps into the air and with sword blazing brightly he swung it behind his back and pulled in a ton of heat from the air in the room to trap Mew in a sunny but translucent sphere before he sliced right through it with a large and pointed diagonal slash, a glowing white gash appearing through the sphere as it splits in two and comes apart, leading to an absolute massive chain of explosions as Solaris slams down onto the ground and flips himself around while Mew is send flying out of the blast radius.

Some of Mew's armor melted off and his wings were singed, but he quickly kicked off one of the walls and threw a series of slicing light blades out towards Lunis and Solaris to keep them on the move as he swings himself around and skids forward along the ground, planting his katana into his hilt for the time being in order to charge up light energy within the blade passively. He quickly gets in front of Lunis and swings his fists out while coating them in light, but Lunis uses her nimble reflexes to get out of the way of most of the attacks while walking backwards.

Mew gets one punch to Lunis' gut and then to the side of her face, but that's the most he manages before Lunis backflips out of the way and allows her brother to charge forward valiantly while his body erupted with shockwaves of fire and his sword tearing up the ground alongside him. Mew had waited patiently for this opportunity and ripped his katana from the hilt, swinging it upward in both of his hands to parry Solaris' ensuing slash with all of his might. The flames spread apart from Solaris' body and are blown out from the wind kicked up from the weight of Mew's attack, and Solaris is left stumbling back in surprise.

But Mew wasn't done there as he quickly turns around, grinds his blade against the ground, and rises it up for another attack. Cutting across the front of Solaris' armor, Mew manages to break through it and slice into the god's skin, drawing blood and pushing him back by the time he finally gets stabilized. As expected of a god, Solaris' blood glowed a bit like magma as it slightly leaked out of his scar, but he held a hand to his wound and with bright flames cauterized the wound while grinning a little and saying "I really was underestimating you! You're pretty strong after all kid!"

"Hey, you don't look that much older than me, alright?" Mew remarked in a humored tone, but while he spent that couple of seconds speaking Lunis was able to get behind him with her incredible speed and plunge a kunai into Mew's back while looking a bit furious for his attack on her brother. As Mew turns around to attack Lunis, she leaps up while three clones come in from the other sides of his body and plunge a kunai into the sides of his body and a little above his gut. Mew grits his teeth to endure through the pain and then stamps his foot down to send out a few shockwaves to blow the clones away.

He then exerts a good amount of power from within his body to push the kunais out, though that comes at the cost of having him bleed out a little. _"Now comes the realization I'm not used to fighting more than one tough opponent at the same time…"_ Mew thinks as he puts on a brave grin and looks up at the descending Lunis, and he doesn't stop for long as he leaps into the air and barely dodges a pounding from the blunt side of Solaris' sword and the ensuing eruption as it hits the ground.

Lunis was surprised Mew was going after her and quickly summoned a clone behind her, who grabs onto her arm as they both descend and with a quick spin around the clone throws Lunis in a straight line to the other side of the room, and Mew ends up slicing through the clone with his katana instead. Mew quickly turns around as Lunis latches to the wall on the other side of the room and hangs upside-down, swinging her arms out a couple of times to throw volleys of kunais at Mew's general direction, moving her hand around quickly to make some of them curve in order to delay when they would hit.

Lunis then leaps off and falls to the ground while Solaris swings his sword out to send out a gigantic fireball behind Mew, and this fireball was held in place as it swallowed in some of the oxygen in the room to expand it's mass. Mew couldn't fly away now as the miniature sun had enough gravity to pull him back, and he needed a lot more concentration to outspeed it…Something the lack of oxygen wasn't helping. So as Mew was kept holding his breath, Lunis' kunais reached and pierced through his body, though he quickly got a shield of light up to push back the other kunais.

Mew swung his body around and then sliced through the miniature sun, knowing that the ensuing explosion would hurt a bit but at the least would free him from the gravitational pull and allow him to tumble back before Solaris could throwing his sword up and impale through his body. Mew dropped to the ground a good number of feet behind Solaris and leaned forward, swinging his katana out behind him in his right hand while forming a thick blade of light in his left. Blood was trickling down the side of his face and his hair was ruffled, but he still maintained his warrior's look.

Solaris turned around and remarked as he raised his hand up to catch his falling sword "Hey kid, what's your name?" Mew lowered his eyebrows a bit and remarked "My name is Mew." Solaris looked a bit surprised by that and while scratching the back of his head with his left hand he remarked "Ummm…Can't say I expected that…Can I just call you by your title instead?"

"Hey it's not like I exactly chose to have this name…But even if I've come to dislike the person who made me, I'm proud to have it anyways. So the answer is no." Mew firmly stated, and Solaris pounded his fist against the blunt side of his blade as it was pointed onwards before exclaiming with a grin on his face and some fire spurting out around his body "You got some pretty big balls to demand that from a high deity! Not gonna lie, I'm not going to forget your face when we're done with you!"

Solaris seemed to be enjoying this fight a lot, a stark contrast to the hesitation he had to fight this 'weakling'. Though it seemed to be more from the strength of Mew's resolve than his actual strength, especially considering Mew hadn't really gotten much damage off on both of his foes. Mew cautiously glanced behind himself as Lunis slowly sidestepped back and forth ready for the next move, and he thought to himself _"The ultimate tag-team of brother and sister deities…I need just a bit more to defeat them."_

Mew looked to the black trigger hidden on his katana and moved a finger towards it, and after Solaris has flipped his sword around he leaps at Mew while Lunis lunges at him with a few kunais clenched between her fingers. Mew widens his eyes and spins his body around at light speed to create a couple of powerful crescent slashes capable of pushing the two deities back, and he pulls the black trigger without a hint of hesitation. His body is quickly overcome with a lashing explosion of darkness, and Solaris and Lunis widen their eyes in surprise of this move.

Lunis in particular freezes in place and says as the darkness spreads out from the bottom of Mew's body "T-This darkness…This horrific darkness…" The armor is cast away from Mew's body, replaced by the black goop on his limbs and the demonic wings on his back, which were formed by burning away the angelic wings with black flames. The ship starts shaking up a bit after Mew has finished his transformation into Dark Form, and he stands upright and punches his open right hand before remarking "I'm not out of tricks yet. Ready for round two?"

Solaris widened his eyes and remarked "Hey wait a second, isn't this the same energy as that demon from back then?!" Lunis stuttered as her legs trembled upon staring into Mew's yellow eyes "F-Father w-warned us about this! S-Stand strong b-brother…! We can still win!" But for all her attempts at confidence, it was clear that Lunis could barely stand to see Mew in this form, and as she continued to stare into his eyes she briefly saw the image of a black goopy monster staring at her without any eyes and a piercing, fanged grin on his primordial face. Lunis' heart skips a couple beats and she lets out a panicked gasp, forcing Solaris to exclaim "Sis, hold it together!"

Mew took a moment to glance at Lunis and remark to her "I'm guessing this bastard demon did something to you. Don't worry, he's not in control at all. You'll just be fighting me like you were before." This little bit of reassurance from Mew caused Lunis to shake her head slightly and respond with "W-Well…I suppose you might be right. You aren't using that demon's full power anyways, so it doesn't mean you can win yet!"

Lunis swung her kunais between her fingers and held them out on both sides of her body as she leaned forward, looking a little more confident now compared to how traumatized she appeared before. Mew grinned and said "Alright then, that's more like it. Lets end this!" Mew then leaped off the ground and went towards Lunis first with his right claw raised, moving faster than he did before. Lunis threw her kunais out, but Mew used the black goop on his palm to catch the kunais without them piercing through it.

In fact, Mew swallows the kunais up into the goop and then nearly grabs Lunis in the grasp of his claw by enlarging the fingers a bit. Lunis was still just a bit faster than Mew and was able to glide along the ground to get out of the way of his attack. Mew however quickly swings his other arm over the right and forces out a ton of black goop from the length of his arm to grab Lunis and slam her against the nearby wall before she had a fair chance to avoid it. Mew then use some black electricity to zap her while she's pinned down.

Lunis clenches her teeth and endures through the pain, putting enough concentration to summon two clones that drop down and use their kunais to cleave through the black goop in order to free her. Meanwhile, Solaris goes in for an attack on Mew from behind, dropping himself down while his sword was front and center against his body, but with the way it was turned Mew was able to turn his body around and summon a black flaming sword that he throws out and pierces through the side of Solaris' body.

Solaris is thrown back from that attack, but Lunis covers for him by pushing the rest of the black goop off of her body and leaping forward to get directly beside Mew and rapidly slashing her kunais out to take off parts of the black goop on Mew's body and cut into his body. But Mew purposely tanked most of the attacks so he could keep Lunis in front of him when he turns and decks her right in the gut with a very powerful and black flaming punch in a millisecond.

Lunis flinches and her mouth is forced agape from shock, and some of the metal from her body plate is melted off. Mew follows up on this by uppercutting Lunis in the chin to send her flying into the air, and then he throws his right arm up to grab Lunis and quickly pull her back down to the ground with all of his force put into the attack to ensure critical damage to Lunis' body. But to Mew's surprise, Lunis quickly gets onto her feet despite the pain now in her back and grabs onto the sides of Mew's arm, tugging onto it to drag him over her way. Mew tries to zap Lunis with electricity again, but she leaps back quickly before she's attacked.

Solaris comes back again for another attack and slams his sword against the ground beside Mew as he tries to dodge, but Solaris unleashed a massive eruption of magma to strike Mew and throw him up against the window nearby. Solaris then covers his fist in cracked fire and punches forward, assaulting Mew's body with a series of meteor fists, none of which even crack the glass on the window. Solaris then glances at Lunis and notices her having a hard time standing, leading to her commenting with a grimace on her face "H-He hurt my back pretty good…"

"Well you didn't fully recover from that other battle you had sis." Solaris commented briefly before Mew suddenly unleashed a darkness explosion from his body to blow apart the meteor fists and dropped down in front of Solaris, swinging his right claw out to unleash a powerful attack upon his foe's armor, breaking through it with three violet glowing gashes while also sending him flying across the room. Mew then quickly turned to Lunis and pounded the ground to send pillars of black fire her way, and she summons a series of reflective barriers to try and stop them.

Mew surrounds the barriers with the black flames and applies as much pressure as he could only them while leaping up into the air to get over Lunis, and he throws his claws down to assault Lunis with hundreds of streams of darkness, breaking through the reflective barriers from sheer strength alone before then gathering up as much darkness as he could to fire off a gigantic black sphere upon Lunis, which consumes her body and explodes into a burst of blackened dots that fade out of existence in a matter of time.

Lunis was still standing afterwards, but there was a lot of scars across her body and blood was trickling down the sides of her face. She panted a couple times slowly as Mew landed on the ground in front of her, her vision blurring as she remarked "I-If nothing else…You held nothing back…Unlike that pesky brother…Of yours…" Lunis raised her right arm up and prepared to throw one last kunai, but Mew just gets right in front of her and punches her in the chest to knock her onto her back, where she lies unconscious afterwards.

Mew pulls back on his fist and then suddenly feels a gigantic surge of power behind him, causing him to turn around as Solaris exclaimed "SIS! Damn it all, now you're done for, Mew!" Solaris body erupted with blue fire that rippled across the ground but did not harm Lunis in the slightest. Solaris' hair turned a vibrant azure color as his armor and sword followed suit with the changes in the flames he was using. Mew braced his body for whatever it was Solaris was going to do next, but instead found himself being lifted off the ground by some very powerful gravitational force.

Looking up, Mew saw a decent sized blue sun being created from nothing, and Mew could not pull himself away from it even as he tried as hard as he could right away. So instead of doing that, Mew coated his body in a couple layers of darkness, closed his eyelids, and let himself get pulled into the blue sun while Solaris leaps into the air and flies around at barely noticeable speeds, slicing through the blue sun so quickly that he manages to turn it bright white in a matter of seconds. When he's done, Solaris cleaves right through it and drops onto the ground while the sun collapses upon itself.

A blinding light fills the room as the sun explodes the very moment Solaris exclaims "Hypernova Slasher!" But Solaris would be greatly surprised when Mew used the explosion from the attack, despite taking a lot of damage that cut off the darkness from his body temporarily, to propel himself straight down and then clobber Solaris atop his head with the strongest punch he could muster. Mew's eyes were wide with determination while Solaris grits his teeth and takes the strength of Mew's punch with little staggering, and he tries to quickly stab his blue flame sword forward into Mew's body. Mew swerves out of the way of the attack and finally lands on the ground, sliding beside Solaris' body and gliding around him while rapidly punching his reformed claws out.

Mew ends up pulling some blue flames back with him with every punch, but the black goop insulates his skin from their heat. Once Solaris turns around to face him and tries to swing his sword to Mew's neck, Mew ducks under the blade and then quickly lifts up to strike Solaris hard in the chin, cracking the bones of his jaw a bit. Mew knew he could only subdue Solaris by holding nothing back, so Mew quickly swung his other fist out and struck the sun god in the head with enough force to split a moon in two, and it was only through the endurance his deity heritage allowed him that Solaris was able to survive with just a bit of dizziness in his head.

But while he was dizzy, Mew summoned a sword and sliced through the front of Solaris' armor, followed by him pulling apart the chest plate with his bare claws. By the time Solaris was able to stand straight, Mew got directly in front of the sun god and threw one last heavy punch to Solaris' chest, sending shockwaves of darkness through his innards to increase the damage he dealt and throw off the sun god so much that he coughs up some blue glowing blood for a moment before the blue flames are shaken right off of his body.

Solaris stumbles back while Mew stood hunched forward on the ground, and after dropping the sword from his hand he grinned as his odd blood dripped down his chin and remarked "S-Son of a bitch…Looks like we really underestimated…All of you…S-Sorry I wasn't strong enough…F-Father…" Solaris fell forward onto the ground and let out a tired groan as he hit the ground hard. Mew stood upright and dispelled Dark Form, noting that Solaris merely was unconscious. Finally, Mew clenched a hand against his chest and remarked while leaning forward "T-That took a little more than I thought it would…But at least this battle is over now. Rest well you two…You were both good opponents…"

Mew felt like falling back and lying down, even for a brief period of time, but he knew that was impossible at this point in time. Glancing out to the left at the arena outside the window, Mew knew Justek was waiting for them all there. Standing tall and keeping his composure, Mew remarked "This is coming to an end soon enough…Justek…" At that moment, the room's door opens up and Mew is greeted by both Riku and Kairi exclaiming his name in surprise.

Mew turned to look at them both, and was pretty surprised to see Kairi holding Alex over her shoulder while his arms were chained up and he was laughing maniacally. Mew would have no choice but to wait to question that once Kairi just threw Alex off to the side casually and ran up to him. Kairi remarked "Thank god you're still alive!" As she was gasping for air, having not yet recovered from shielding Riku's attacks earlier. Riku, meanwhile, looked across the room and saw Lunis and Solaris were both unconscious.

Riku widened his eyes for a moment and remarked "You actually beat them both brother…" Mew glanced at Riku and Kairi briefly before saying "Yeah well, kind of had to. I had a promise to keep here to survive." Mew gives a wink to Kairi at that part, and she just chuckled though a happy tear trickled down her right cheek at the same time. Mew then looked at Alex's body and remarked "Now…I'm going to really need some context on this. What's going on here?"

Riku looked at Mew and told him "I'll leave Kairi to explain this. She's the reason Alex isn't dead right now anyways." Kairi looked Mew as he blinked in confusion, and quietly she explains "Well you see…Turns out Gravitus wasn't quite dead after our battle with him two weeks ago. He was Justek's herald and the reason the second seal on Justek's cage broken. He forced me to fight eight of the Planetary Aurians who mind-controlled by Justek, and then himself again afterwards. But before he escaped, he told me that he knew the truth of my sister's location, or rather that Alex had traveled with her. So I ended up overhearing a conversation between Alex and Riku, and before Riku could kill him I saved Alex…Only because I want to get the information out of him regarding Shina's location."

Mew glanced at Riku with widened eyes and said "Riku, really?" Riku bluntly remarked while folding his arms together "I'm really not in the mood to argue this brother. Alex is an evil that needs to be removed from this universe. Once he's served that last purpose for Kairi, I WILL dispatch him personally. That's how it's going to be, and I will not have any arguments from you, brother." Riku punctuated his ultimatum with a piercing glare towards his brother.

Mew just raised his eyebrows a bit and let out a sigh, remarking while gesturing a hand out beside his head "Look Riku, I can't blame you for wanting to kill Alex like this, but-" Mew flinched for a moment as he looked out and saw Alex on his feet slowly walking over to Lunis' unconscious body, and he was seconds away from opening his mouth and unleashing a flamethrower attack to incinerate her completely. Mew firmly lowered his eyebrows and quickly sped across the room to get in front of Alex, swinging a hang out and grabbing him in the front of his face to force his mouth shut while giving him a calm glare.

Alex widened his eyes as he stared at Mew between the fingers planted on his face, and Mew remarked to him "I only have so much patience with you right now. What I said earlier still applies, Phoenix of Destruction. I will beat the real Alex Whiter out of you if I have to, but first you ARE going to answer to Kairi's wishes to find her sister, even if it means we have to get someone to drag the answers out of your mind unwillingly." Alex remarked in a raspy tone of voice "Y-You're a joke…To think that you could force answers out of me…With such cruel methods."

Mew raised his eyebrows and remarked "You killed billions. I don't think you realize you have no foot to stand on when it comes to morality." That was all he said before he used the grip on Alex's face to throw him to the ground, where he hits the back of his head hard enough to dizzy him for a moment. Mew stands upright and looks at Riku, telling him nonchalantly "Now you want to pick him up? We'll have to keep him in our sights while we're fighting Justek and all."

Riku complied to the plan with a just a nod of his head, though he was pretty surprised at how Mew reacted to Alex's actions as he did so. Once Alex was thrown over Riku's right shoulder, a large ring of light appeared in the center of the room, indicating a platform that could carry the four of them down to the arena Justek was waiting for them at. Mew stared at the platform for a few seconds while Riku stood behind him and remarked "Well brother, this is it. Are you ready?"

Mew thought about the stakes at hand, the universe that was in danger and all the people who lived across it, but the most important faces he saw in front of him were those he had met throughout his life. Everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom, the Planetary Aurians, Mr. Reality, and Auris were the most present though. Kairi saw every Aurian she had ever met except for her father, and an image of her sister stood closest to her and gave her a smile. Riku's vision was particular crowded, as he met many, many people in the two years he had been alive, all of them needing to be saved from whatever Justek has planned.

The three contemplated the lives that were waiting for them to make it back alive, but it was Mew who broke the quietness amongst them by remarking "I wish I could say I had a motivational speech right about now, but I don't. Lets just make it back home alive, alright?" Kairi and Riku found that to be good enough, and nodded their head in agreement. They then walked to the platform Justek had prepared for them, and it split off from the rest of the floor and began to descend down towards the arena…The final battle awaited.

 _Next Time: The Power of Justek_


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23: Justek Phase 1: Messenger of the Black Hole**

The lift Mew, Kairi and Riku took slowly descended from the rest of the ship, down to the massive arena Justek had created for them to fight in. It was miles large, and from even this far up they couldn't see either end of the arena. All they noticed was a glass dome that prevented the oxygen-less vastness of space from affecting them, and from Riku's point-of-view he figured that Mr. Reality's powers were used to make sure the heat from the sun wouldn't melt the glass as well. The lift eventually made it's way to the very bottom of this domed arena, and the group stepped off before the lift just vanished right out of existence.

Not very far away from the lift itself stood someone, a man with long, rugged grey hair and a dark-blue cape with a dark golden emblem on it attached to the back of his jagged, light emerald shoulder pads. He was a particularly tall man, being even a couple inches taller than Gravitus himself. As he hears the footsteps of the group as they get off the lift, he remarks in a relaxed tone with a slight bit of a cockney accent in his voice "So…You have arrived at last…Mew, Kairi, Riku, and the Phoenix of Destruction himself. That makes four, doesn't it?"

As the group was surprised by how the person spoke, the man turned around and revealed himself to the four. He wore a dark neon colored silk robe with a curved "V" opening on his chest, with black chain mail behind it. The sleeves of his robe are wrapped by iron-copper grieves with three layers of plating, each one projecting backwards a little further each layer until it reaches the underside of his elbows. He wears a belt with odd bones around the edges, the center of it being round enough to hold nine dark colored symbols and two brighter symbols representing something unknown. His pants are made of red nylon with two green stylized dragons coiling around the legs, with some various armor plates covering them up and some emerald dragon fangs extending out from the plates on the hips. His build was fitting for a middle-aged man, but curiously enough his face was a bit wrinkled, as though he was in his early 60s. Finally, one could see that he wears a pair of small lens glasses that hid his light-green eyes, and that he held an orichalcum staff that was as tall as his body and grafted with streaks of burning rubies along it's length.

The man stood thirty feet away from the rest of the group and held his staff to the ground, holding his left hand out slightly adjacent to his body as he remarked "Glad all of you could make it. I am the man who you have been tasked to hunt down and defeat, the man held in disdain by his peers as the All-Encompassing Betrayer. I…am Justek Arcavira." The group stared at Justek, expressing disbelief in differing fashions, leading to Justek smirking a bit and saying in a coy tone of voice "You were expecting someone different, weren't you?"

Mew is the one who responds to Justek's words by saying to him "Considering what Riku said, I wasn't expecting to see someone who looks human…" Justek closed his eyelids and remarked in turn "You were expecting a monster…But of course. Make no mistake of it though, that is what I am. A monster above all others." Justek then opened his eyelids back up and glanced particularly at Alex Whiter's body as it was still swung over Riku's body.

"You do not have to hold onto him anymore. Wouldn't you agree that he is nothing more than a handicap at this point?" Justek remarked while gesturing a hand out towards Riku, smiling just a tiny bit. Riku remarked while keeping a cautious glare towards Justek "In more ways than one, yes…" Riku then threw Alex to the ground beside himself, the resulting impact causing Alex to wake up once the back of his head hit. Alex suddenly jolted his eyelids open and then raised his head up, glaring at Riku for a moment with anger on his face before looking to the left and seeing Justek standing there.

At that very moment, Alex focused on nothing else and slowly pulled himself up off the ground, standing upright fully and slowly breaking into a fit of laughter, and he leaned forward while his hands were still tied behind his back to remark "Finally…! All my efforts have not been for naught! You are here in front of me at last, Justek Arcavira!" Justek reacted to Alex's wide-eyed madness by remaining perfectly calm and saying to him "Alex Whiter…Or would you prefer to be called by your newly embraced moniker, Phoenix of Destruction?"

Alex just grinned in response to that recognition, and with a quiet and humored chuckle Justek went on to say "So be it then, Phoenix of Destruction. You are to thank, in a sense, for my freedom, are you not?" Alex just nodded his head nice and slow while saying to Justek "I did it all to free you. So you can end this tainted universe for me once and for all! …But of course, you already knew that was my motivation, did you not?"

Justek merely nodded his head once in response to that, and Riku remarked while folding his arms together "Of course he did, he has been watching us ever since he got out of the cage." Alex just pulled his head back and laughed some more at that, remarking in a blunt and callous tone "You are a real idiot, aren't you?! Justek knew why I wanted to free him before he came out of that blasted cage…He knew long before that point, before I was ever even born he knew the truth of what would become of me!"

It seems only Kairi knew what that meant, and with an agape look on her face she said "Y-You can't be serious…You're telling me that Justek is a clairvoyant just like my mother?!" Mew and Riku widened their eyes the very moment they heard this, and Alex's unhinged laughter as he stood upright and lurched his body back only confirmed the truth. Alex rubbed this fact in though by exclaiming "Of course he is! Why do you think that wretched witch of a mother of yours was even more useless than she was before?! Being able to see everything means nothing when your enemy can do the same!"

Justek lifted his head up slightly and looked at Alex, remarking in a nonchalant manner "Yes, you are quite right that Lady Auris has roughly the same knowledge as I do. We both have seen and memorized all possible futures, but the difference between her and I is that until a few hours ago, I could not use this knowledge within that cage. But even when I was freed, I only had a certain amount of time to get everything ready the way I wanted it to be. So at this moment, I must offer an apology for stalling the way I did…Especially in a few particularly cruel ways, but I needed to muster up every free second that I could before you four would arrive here."

"There's no need to apologize to these whelps, Justek. You have put everything in it's place, right? You have done everything exactly how I expected you to do so! All that's left now is for you to grind this universe down into nothigness, and once I have taken your life that will be the end of all wretchedness in this universe!" Alex exclaimed with a merry grin on his face, followed by Justek lowering his head a bit and saying with his eyelids shut "But of course…Then you will be satisfied, correct? Once everything is gone, and you exist in the black void that remains…Only then will the cravings of the Phoenix of Destruction be satiated. Unless, of course, I am being arrogant in my presumptions, even if they are based on pre-established facts. But you would be quick to tell me otherwise with that sharp tongue of yours, wouldn't you?"

Justek was quite blunt in those last words of his as he went more into a glare towards Alex, but Alex didn't seem to understand the tone Justek was using against him as he went on to say "No, you have the gist of it. Hahahaha, you can't even begin to realize how much my body is shaking with anticipation right now. I could literally orgasm off of this glee if I wanted to, that's how much I am looking forward to seeing an end to this accursed universe!" Justek held his left hand out and remarked with a slight tilt of his head "But alas, a chained bird can only flap it's beak in the end. Riku…If you would be so kind as to free the Phoenix of Destruction from his chains, then I will be able to grant him his absolutely grandiose desires."

Riku glared at Justek and remarked with his arms firmly crossed "Like hell I will do that. The Phoenix of Destruction is going to die after we're done with you. If you want me to free him, then you can just force me like you forced Sodenko and Takashi to fight for you!" Justek just lifted his eyebrows a bit and remarked in a quaintly apologetic tone "My mistake. It seems I was too presumptuous to assume that you would not resist my request. This was not the timeline to be asking such a thing from you. As for the matter of forcing you to do it…Well, it would not be possible. Your mind is not in the proper condition to be used in such a way, even if I had any intention of controlling you."

"So what, you saying my friends had weak minds?" Riku inquired bluntly, and Justek immediately shook his head and responded with "If so, I did not mean it in an insulting manner. I was merely speaking the truth of the matter, and as a matter of fact that comment of mine could be perceived more as a compliment of the strength of your wills. The point I am trying to bring to your attention is that it is only a matter of time before you will free the Phoenix of Destructions from those chains of yours, Riku."

Riku raised his eyebrows up a bit and remarked "You think that, but I have no intention of following your whims. Just because you can see the future doesn't mean that things can go your way." "You aren't exactly wrong there…But time is not linear in this world. Possibilities exist all around us at every possible second, an ever expanding crossroads born of fate itself, and weaved intricately through the fibers of every atom of our beings. If you aren't going to give up the Phoenix of Destruction through persuasion, then there simply exist other possibilities I could exploit. But I shall let up on that matter for the time being." Justek said in the most nonchalant manner.

"Enough about that, Justek. Just what are you planning to do to destroy the universe anyways?" Mew inquired while holding a hand out to summon his sword, which extends behind Kairi's body before he lowers it beside himself, though Mew kept a cautious look in his eyes just like Riku was. Justek remarked after a slight chuckle as he raised his head up "Yes, that's right. I am supposed to destroy the universe, aren't I? Hmmm…" Justek then gestured out with the full length of his arm and quickly remarked "We're not quite at that point in time though."

"We're never GOING to reach that point in time. Kairi, Riku and I will stop you before you can get the chance to do so!" Mew exclaimed confidently before pointing his sword at Justek and setting the blade on fire. Justek holds his hands out on both sides of his body while letting his staff standing on the ground, remarking in a relaxed tone "Now let us not be too reckless here. You were already shocked that I had clairvoyance…Do you not find yourselves questioning what else the Anti-Genesis Theorem granted me?"

Mew paused for a moment and slanted his eyebrows before lowering his sword, calming the flames before remarking "Well it certainly didn't grant you eternal beauty or agelessness like it did Lady Auris." Justek took a bit of humor in that comment and after a brief laugh he remarked "Not everyone could be as blessed as Lady Auris was. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as many upon many have said, and it's a sentiment I find myself agreeing with." It was incredible how the man could just speak so casually with Mew despite them being enemies, but there was just that air around Justek that showed that he was someone barely affected by anything.

Kairi widened her eyes and spoke up after spending some time scanning Justek's aura, and exclaimed to him bluntly "How dare you speak about my mother like that as though you two were friends, or that you consider what she has to be a blessing! She hates you, you monster!" Justek suddenly paused for a moment and closed his eyelids before remarking with a sigh preluding it "I am quite aware of that. I should have been more specific with my choice of words…What I meant was that, compared to myself and the original Dark King, what she received from the Anti-Genesis Theorem is a blessing."

Justek then raised a hand to his glasses and nudged them upward, remarking after a momentary pause "And yes, I am quite aware of what she thinks of me. And she has had every right available to her to call me a monster. That is what I am, after all…A monster to end all monsters in this universe. But that's the thing about being a monster…Your legends tend to grab the interest of those truly power-hungry in the universe. The Phoenix of Destruction is not the only person who proves this…Isn't that right, Damascus? Or should I say…Aurian Gravitus?"

Justek raised his voice a bit at the end as he lifted his head up and looked towards the bottom of the ship, and Mew, Kairi and Riku turned around and saw Gravitus descending behind them. Once Gravitus landed on the ground he looked at the group with a grin on his face while Mew pointed his sword at him and remarked "You got to be kidding me, now we'll have to deal with Gravitus as well?!" Gravitus, even with his weakened body, was able to raise his right hand up and use his powers to force Mew's arm downward so his blade slammed against the ground.

Kairi then drew her staff and pointed it at Gravitus while remarking "You lost Gravitus! Unless you want to suffer any further embarrassment, then just get out of here!" Gravitus grinned wider and then exclaimed "I am not done yet! You forget, we are all in the presence of my master! It is not just me you face now, but the two of us together!" Gravitus then raised his head up enough to look at Justek past the others, and exclaimed proudly "Come Master Justek! Give me a little of your aura, and we shall face these insects together!"

Justek noticeably closed his eyelids the moment Gravitus started talking, and Alex Whiter began to laugh maniacally at the situation presented to him at this very moment. Gravitus ignored that laughter for a bit as he wondered why Justek was being silent, leading to him asking with his eyes wide with anticipation "Come on Master! We are just minutes away from fulfilling our ambitions! I know your power, so why do you hesitate?!" Riku glanced back at Justek and was suspicious of his lack of action, and with his right hand raised as though ready to summon his own sword he thought to himself _"Something's not right here…"_

Alex just began to laugh louder, and in a moment of frustration Gravitus grit his teeth into a scowl and exclaimed "What gives you the right to laugh when you are trapped and helpless, Phoenix of Destruction?!" Alex held his head back a bit and remarked with the utmost glee on his face "You poor little piece of trash…You don't even realize how discarded and worthless you are now!" Gravitus remarked in turn "You underestimate your place in this, boy! You served your purpose already when you let me have me the chance to meet Master Justek!"

Alex retorted by pulling his head back as far as he could and laughing at the top of his lungs before exclaiming "Oh that is just RICH! You don't even qualify as a puppet anymore Gravitus…You're more like a fucking lapdog and you don't even realize it. So just up keep your sniveling and begging and maybe your master will give you a treat." Riku glanced around at the scene unfolding and then leaned at Mew, whispering into his ear while Gravitus wasn't paying attention to him "I'll attack Gravitus, you and Kairi can go after Justek. Just make sure Alex doesn't get freed and-"

"I will have to pardon you for a moment there Riku." Justek suddenly remarked to break the tension in the atmosphere, and Riku jolted upright and looked at Justek with an incredibly shocked look on his face bordering on fear as Justek opened his eyelids and had the most plain smile as could possibly be on his face. Gravitus smiled himself and inquired "Master! Are you ready to deal with these peons?!"

Justek, for the first time since he was introduced, raised his hand and let out a bit of strange black and yellow energy, pulling his staff into his grasp and then swinging it out beside himself before remarking "I suppose you are right Gravitus…The problem at hand must be dealt with as swiftly as possible." Kairi turned a bit to face Justek and exclaimed with a scowl on her face "Looks like we're not going to have an easy time here!" The trio of Mew, Riku and Kairi were ready to fight the two powerful warriors off, but none of them noticed how Alex hung forward and grinned quietly.

Justek moved, but in doing so sped across the arena in the span of a millisecond, creating a gale of wind as he goes right past the group. Suddenly, a confused snarl is heard as the group blinks once in confusion, leading to them turning their heads to the right collectively and watching as Justek now stands in front of Gravitus, his staff stabbed right through his chest as the man's cape hangs in place from the speed he used while Justek himself was leaning forward slightly, the staff of his grasped in both hands tightly. Gravitus' face lurched in both pain and shock as Justek twists his staff and contorts the metal in his body.

Gravitus' arms were forcibly held out beside himself for a moment as he stuttered and looked down at Justek, remarking to him in a completely shocked tone "M-Master…W-What are you doing?" Justek raised his head up slightly and yet still had a calm look on his face as he said "I do believe I made myself clear. I am putting an end to a problem at hand." Gravitus' confusion slowly turned to anger, not just out of the sheer severity of Justek's swift betrayal of his expectations, but because that accursed Alex Whiter knew this was coming.

Gravitus raised his right hand up and remarked "H-How dare you betray me?! I have done nothing but serve your ambitions!" Justek suddenly lowered his eyebrows and his eyes glistened for a moment as he grabbed a hold of Gravitus' mind to prevent him from using his powers, with Gravitus freezing in place against his will as Justek went on explain without so much as pausing "Serve my ambitions? Nothing you have done has ever suggested that. Quite the opposite in fact…The only ambitions you served were your own, Damascus."

Justek took on a slightly firmer tone of voice as he said "You poor, pitiful man…You never even realized how much of a puppet you were in the end. I only used you for the sake of my freedom, everything else you did beyond that merely served to anger me further and further. Your purpose is at an end Damascus, and it's time for you to leave the stage." Justek then pulled his staff out of Gravitus' body and turned around, breaking the hypnosis on him. But as Gravitus prepared to use his powers, a rift began to open up within the hole in Gravitus' body.

The rift quickly expanded outward, distorting the air as it swallowed up and broke apart Gravitus' body without a hint of mercy, dragging in every single piece of metal and wiring. As Gravitus' head was detached from the rest of his body, he could only let out an angered scream before he was twisted around inside of the center of the rift, his colors mixing in with the swirl as his voice is swallowed up by whatever lied beyond the rift, which sealed up almost instantaneously. All the while, Justek didn't even look back, and he casually walked past the group as they could only stare with stunned and frightened expressions on their face…

All save for Alex Whiter, who waited until Justek passed in front of him to lift his head up and say with an eager grin "Justek Arcavira…That was pretty bold of you to just throw that trash away into the depths of space like that. Shouldn't he have been a little more humiliated first?" Justek got back to where he was before and then turned himself around, planting his staff on the ground as he nudged his glasses back into place and remarked "My apologies…I was not quite ready to reveal that aspect of my powers, but Damascus forced my hand. Oh well, that is the nature of possibilities in this universe of ours."

As the trio turned back to face Justek, and Mew murmured in shock "He just got rid of Gravitus…With one move…!" Kairi could barely grasp her staff as she looked at Justek, responding to Mew's comment with a disbelieving shake of her head and a barely confident remark of "I-I can't believe it…Mother wasn't joking…Justek is a monster." Justek raised his head up and glanced at the four, noticing that Riku was the only one not flinching at this point.

"So what is this, something from the Anti-Genesis Theorem, or did you force the reality bender to give you these powers?" Riku inquired bluntly, and Justek chuckled a bit at that before telling Riku with a bit of politeness "I have no intention of stacking the odds against any of you. My powers are what they have always been. The reality-bender helped me set up a few things, such as the ship we stand on. If you defeat me, it will be because you surpassed the powers I have available."

Riku lifted his eyebrows a bit and then remarked "Fair enough. We'll fight you with everything we've got! Mew, Kairi, we can-" Justek then suddenly raised his left hand up and pointed at Alex Whiter, remarking as Alex grinned his way "I do believe I made a point of asking for the Phoenix of Destruction to be freed from his chains. This will be the last time I will ask this of you, Riku." Riku swung his right hand out and remarked bluntly "It's never happening, Justek!"

Justek closed his eyelids slightly and after a brief sigh he said "Stubbornness is a common trait amongst the Whiter lineage…I am not at all surprised, to be quite honest. But alas, stubbornness can only go so far. I was hoping for a more tame resolution to my request, but it seems I have no choice but to guide fate in the direction I want it to go." Justek held his hand out in front of him and raised his voice a bit before remarking "I choose to invoke the Rite of Singularity. My opponent shall be Alex Whiter, the boy who chose to become the Phoenix of Destruction. Kairi, you are more than welcome to explain to young Riku what this means."

Mew and Kairi both widened their eyes in surprise while Riku just tilted his head in confusion, with Kairi exclaiming in an angered tone "You can't be serious! You aren't an Aurian, you can't use that technique!" As Alex laughed at that remark, Justek quickly explained after a brief apology "I wish I did not have to correct you, but…While the Aurians gave birth to the Rite of Singularity, anyone who can properly control their aura can also use the technique to their advantage. And Lady Auris taught me plenty about control. So yes, I can use the Rite of Singularity."

Justek then glanced at Riku and told him "Basically, now that I have activated the Rite of Singularity, there is an invisible link between my aura and that of the Phoenix of Destruction. Now only the two of us can fight…If you cause harm to him or me in any shape or form, the Rite of Singularity will drain your aura and cause the body to perish moments later. In other words…" Riku grits his teeth bitterly and comments "Keeping Alex bound in those chains will be interfering…"

Alex then glances back at Riku and says in a mocking tone "Yes, so be a good little boy and let me go, or I will just draw blood from the chains and end your life." Riku trembled out of anger before swinging his left hand up, drawing his sword fast enough to cut down the chains binding Alex's arms, and Alex swings them out in front of his body and exclaimed "Finally! The moment has come at last, Justek Arcavira!"

Alex just completely ignored the others at this point and focused his eyes on Justek, his irises glowing bright red as flames spun up around his body and he slowly walked forward. Justek held his left hand out and remarked "Phoenix of Destruction…You have been patient enough, have you not? Shall I finally reward your efforts?" Alex grinned brightly as he raised his head up and remarked "Oh…I would be so overjoyed if you would, Justek."

Justek grinned a tiny bit before remarking "Then my apologies, I will have to delay our battle for a few seconds. I shall return in a moment." Justek then turned around and caused another rift to open up, only this time Justek walked right through it without his body being affected. Even from this distance, the group could see Justek reappearing past the glass dome, where he floated in place in front of the sun without a care. Justek holds his left hand up in front of his chest and created a black, pulsating sphere whose energy could barely be contained even by him.

"So this is where the end begins…" Justek quietly said before he casually held his hand out and forced the sphere forward, where it flies at rapid speeds and plunged itself into the sun. Justek then quickly turned around and floated through the rift, reappearing above where the first rift was replaced and slowly floating towards the ground. As Justek does so rather casually, something odd began to happen to the sun. It began to twist inward with a black, multi-pointed spiral growing in the center of it's massive form.

Rapidly, the sun began to collapse upon itself, with the entirely of space shaking as from that sun forms something truly dreadful. A swirling mass of darkness whose vacuum could swallow anything, even the light around it. From the sun, Justek had created a black hole, and with all the mass at his disposal he had managed to create one that was unfathomable in size. Justek finally landed on the ground and looked up at the group, with Mew, Kairi and Riku at a complete loss for words as to what was going on, even as Justek remarks to them very nonchalantly while holding his staff out beside his body "Now then…Shall we begin?"

Even with the presence of the black hole, the ship did not even move, but Mercury was quickly swallowed up by it's vacuum. Instead of worrying about that, Mew exclaimed "W-What's going on here?! What have you done, Justek?!" Justek lifted his head up and commented calmly "I am just fulfilling my duty as the universe's greatest monster. At this very moment, this black hole of mine has a vacuum powerful enough to swallow the entire solar system. You cannot hear it, and you cannot be affected by it because of the ship's special properties imbued by the reality-bender. But it's not just this sun I have converted into a black hole…"

Justek held his arms out and remarked "Every sun, every star…At this very moment, all of them have turned into black holes. Your very universe is slowly being swallowed, and eventually there shall be nothing but those of us on this ship. Unless, of course, you manage to stop me…Then perhaps a solution to this can be found afterwards." Riku tried to calm himself down and commented "You're bluffing, Justek."

Justek glared at Riku with noticeable ire in his eyes, and as he nudges his glasses up to make a gleam appear in the lens he remarks "Do not make light of my claims, Riku…I am not a man who bluffs." Justek then glanced over his right shoulder and commented as a blue sphere was swallowed into the black hole "In fact…There goes the Earth right now." Kairi suddenly felt her heart skip a beat as she realized what that meant, and with a heart clenched against her chest she let out a stutter of "M-Mom…N-No…"

Kairi could only hold back the tears by focusing her rage on Justek, and she exclaimed to him "Justek you bastard! You'll pay for this! You'll pay for this with your life a thousand times over!" Justek then closed his eyelids and remarked "…You will have to wait your turn then. My battle is with the Phoenix of Destruction at this very moment." Justek then focused his eyes on Alex Whiter, who held his hands in his pockets and grinned, his head shaking slightly as he chuckled for a few good seconds.

When he was done laughing Alex slowly said "This is perfect…Yes, yeeeees! The perfect way for the universe to end…Every last bit of happiness, every bit of sadness, rage, all those pathetic emotions, feelings and people will be sucked away. Every last bit of this universe will die!" Alex raised his head up and pulled his hands from his pockets, grabbing onto the bottom of his glove and giving it a tug as his eyes glow with flames spurting out from the sides of them, and with the utmost excitement in his voice he says "I am going to enjoy this so much, Justek! I will end your life nice and slow, making sure that by the time I have pulled your heart from your chest and lorded over your corpse the universe will have been ended!"

Justek responded to all of Alex's threats by calmly lifting his head up and remarking "I shall win without moving a single step. That is the guaranteed future for you, Phoenix of Destruction." Alex just lowered his eyebrows and said after a little chuckle "You are a fool then Justek…Nothing more than an ancient relic that will be burned away! Your idle threats mean nothing to me!"

 _Next Time: Responsibility_


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24: Justek Phase 2: The Embodiment of Destruction's Catalyst**

As Alex and Justek began their battle, the trio of Mew, Kairi and Riku could only stand back and watch due to the nature of the Rite of Singularity, a thing that greatly bothered them considering the nature of the black holes Justek had summoned across the universe. Mew had to comfort Kairi, who was feeling a great deal of distress from the fact that her mom and all of her people had been swallowed in that black hole, but Riku spent his time deciding to observe how the battle would unfold. Paying close attention to Justek in particular, Riku realized something right away.

With a brief widening of his eyes, Riku whispered "There's no way Alex can win…" and folded his arms together, gritting his teeth slightly out of annoyance that he was being robbed of the chance to end Alex's life. Alex held his arms out beside his body while hunched forward, remarking in an arrogant tone "So Justek…How would you like to die? Shall I melt your eyes? Burn your innards with lightning? Strangling you with venomous thorns?"

Justek just stood completely still and with a smile on his face humored Alex's remark by commenting "Why don't you try and surprise me?" Alex grinned widely and with a joyous look in his eyes he decide to start off with something simple and swung his right hand out to send out a gigantic beam of fire at Justek, which moves at near blinding speeds through the air. Justek keeps his pose and causes a large swirling vortex to appear in front of him fast enough to swallow up the flames.

Alex paused for a moment with his hand held out, blinking a bit in confusion as Justek closed his eyelids and remarked "A rather simple technique…The most basic move a Fire user can utilize save for a fireball. Surely you have a better move up your sleeve than that?" Alex clenched his fist tightly and then rapidly swung his hands out to surround Justek with gigantic fireballs, immediately swinging his arms downward to force the fireballs onto the man. Justek once again responds by opening up a series of vortexes around his body and dispersing the flames he had gathered from Alex's first attack into a series of miniature beams that pierce through the fireballs.

Justek then opened his eyelids and grinned just a tiny bit, which only incited some anger from Alex as he quickly pounded the ground with his left hand and sent a series of jagged rocks in a line towards Justek, and the man responds to it by swinging his staff forward against the ground to send out a wave of grey energy that splits through the rocks down the center. But then there's two more groups of jagged rocks that curve out around from the middle of the first one and try to slam into the sides of Justek's body.

Justek keeps standing still and lets go of his staff, controlling it with his mind to make it spiral around his body rapidly to create a miniature tornado that tears through all the rocks coming his way before they could touch him. Justek then swings his right arm out to grab his staff and hold it in front of him, and then he throws it forward to have it meet the center of a gigantic lightning bolt Alex tries to hit him with. The end of Justek's staff holds back the lightning for a few seconds before it ended and the staff recoiled through the air above Justek.

Alex quickly punched the air, putting shockwaves into the atmosphere around the knuckles as he strikes Justek's staff with air bullets to knock it away so he can't use it, but Justek just holds his right arm up while creating a vortex in the path his staff was blown away towards, allowing him to grab it and place it down beside himself with ease. Justek then laughed for a few seconds before Alex glared at him and remarked "Are you even taking this seriously? How dare you laugh!"

As a scowl crossed Alex's face, Justek merely looked at him and remarked "I am taking this as seriously as I should be. But of course, after being trapped for two-thousand years with almost nothing but my visions of the many futures to keep me company, am I not allowed a little levity? Especially when there's the perfect joke to humor me at this very moment?" Alex glared at Justek and said "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Justek waved a hand casually in front of him and commented with a chuckle beforehand "Why, I'm talking about you of course." Alex immediately widened his eyes in anger and swung his hands out, summoning a series of gigantic thorny vines from the ground to charge at Justek, who merely throws his staff out and spins it around like a fan in front of him to grind apart the vines, though Alex placed some seeds within the vines that slip past the staff and fall towards Justek, each one having a lit fuse that causes them to cover the area in front of Justek with a series of large explosions.

Alex swings his right arm out beside himself and exclaims "Do you find that funny, Justek?!" Showing that he was already becoming unhinged from Justek's remarks. The smoke settled rapidly though, as Justek swallowed it all up in a few tiny black holes that were in front of his body, and once those faded away Justek himself was seen unharmed by the explosions as he remarked with a slight smile on his face "Quite so. Remind me again, am I not fighting the Phoenix of Destruction? So why instead is a clown standing before me?"

Alex drew his sword at that moment and through his grit teeth he exclaimed "Bastard!" and leaped towards Justek, getting in front of him and with sword grasped in both hands he tries to swing a massive amount of flames at Justek's chest. Justek counters the attack by pulling his staff back to his right hand and swinging it out in front of him to hit Alex in the forehead before he could go through with his attack all the way, and the roughness of the orichalcum striking Alex's head caused him to become dizzied as he was thrown onto his back, the flames from his sword dispersed.

Justek held his staff out beside himself and calmly remarked as he looked down at Alex "A predictable move…This act of yours is quite dull, I must say." There was a tinge of bluntness in Justek's voice at the very end of his sentence, but Alex did not listen and just pushed himself onto his feet and lunged at Justek again. With sword thrust forward Alex summoned a sharp beam of flame to try and break through Justek's chest, but the man just held his staff in front of his body and caused the flames to divert around himself with minimal effort.

Alex quickly glided behind Justek and swung his sword out multiple times to try and cut up his back, but Justek predicted the path the sword would cut through the air and created perfectly sized slits in the air with his mind to intercept Alex's attacks without taking a single hit. Alex burst forth flames from his blade to try and get past the slits, but Justek merely widened the slits to deal with the flames. Alex then leaped into the air and brought himself down with all of his strength, but Justek merely swung his staff above his head to deflect Alex's sword.

Alex recoils off the staff and flips back a couple of times, and then he rapidly stabs the air with his blade to try and pierce Justek from behind. Justek creates more vortexes to hold back Alex's attacks, standing completely still until he was done, which led to Alex letting out a brief growl of frustration. Alex then swung his sword out and created a massive wave of fire. Justek used a black hole this time to swallow the flames up with ease.

"How dare you!" Alex exclaimed before he dispelled his sword and coated his hand in electricity, leading to him zipping forward at light speed with his hand thrust forward in an attempt to stab Justek through the chest, but with a quick throw of his staff behind his body Justek intercepts Alex's charge by hitting him in the gut, causing his upper body to lurch forward with the electricity sparking out of control before it leaves its owner's hand.

Justek then pulls the staff back into his hand and closed his eyelids as Alex stumbled back a bit and gagged for a few seconds, and once he regained control of himself he stood himself up a bit and held his arms out beside his body while remarking in a raspy tone "H-How?!" Justek opened his eyelids and glanced over his left shoulder in order to remark "Not a very good listener, are you? Even if you weren't, I would at least have predictable to fall back on for an adjective."

Alex grabbed his right wrist and set it bursting with flames, and after thrusting the right hand in front of himself he summoned a gigantic flaming dragon towards Justek. This time instead of using his staff or his vortexes, Justek holds his right hand behind himself and created a tall shield made out of black and blue swirling energy. The flaming dragon strikes the shield and the flames it is composed of cascades down on both sides of Justek's body without touching him, though the heat from the flames prove a bit bothersome. Alex charges forward and punches the shield down with one mighty punch carrying the equivalent force of a theoretical magnitude fifty earthquake.

As the entire arena shakes, Justek holds his ground and swings his staff behind himself to deflect Alex's second punch, even though it carried the same force as the last attack. Alex leaps back and throws both of his hands out to create a wave of absolute zero frost, Justek countering that attack by stamping his staff down on the ground in front of him to create a dome of energy around his body that takes the frost head-on and gets frozen instead. Justek then shatters the ice alongside the barrier, releasing a shockwave of energy that strikes Alex and knocks him onto his back once more as he tried to attack him from the side.

Justek holds his left hand up and creates a sphere of black and blue energy that he puts inside of a vortex before he glances to the right at Alex, who pulls himself off the ground and looks at Justek with a wicked scowl and glare. Justek holds his right hand out while letting go of his staff, remarking calmly to him "You are more than welcome to try something new. You have plenty of elements at your disposal, surely you can come up with a little more than what you've tried so far?"

Alex gets onto his feet and erupts flames around his entire body before swinging his arms out, forming spheres in his palms that he merges together in front of his body, creating a seal of burning energy before the sphere that would amplify the damage this attack would inflict upon Justek. Justek raised his eyebrows a bit and remarked casually "Ah, your Flame Cannon technique. Truly a classic one that is…" Alex thrusts his hands out and fires a massive beam of flames, incinerating the ground is travels along as it goes towards Justek.

Justek once again is able to match Alex's attack by lifting his right arm up slightly and using another energy barrier just as big as the circumference of the flame beam to stop it in place, with maybe a couple cracks appearing in the surface of the barrier by the time Alex's attack stopped. Through the lingering smoke, Justek raised his eyebrows a little as he saw Alex's next attack ready to approach him, a swarm of gigantic meteors that he created out of nothing, each one adding a deathly red-yellow glow to atmosphere as they fell towards Justek.

But as the meteors reflected off of his glasses Justek just held his right hand out and opened a vortex that sent out the sphere he stored earlier, which spiraled towards the front most meteor and upon making contact with it growing into a black hole big enough to break apart all of the meteors and drag them into it's vacuum, all the while Alex goes from grinning to being left with a look of utter shock as the light from the meteors die out and the black hole responsible for this fades out of existence.

As Alex swings his head over his right shoulder to see what had happened, Justek takes a moment to lower his arm and remark "Do you not see how futile this is, Phoenix of Destruction? You cannot possibly hope to harm me in your current state. A beast drive by madness is only predictable, and I do not need clairvoyance to see every single one of your moves before they even come close to-" Alex tries to leap at Justek and punch him in the face while he was speaking, but Justek swiftly leans back and drops his staff so he can take his right gauntlet and raise it up to strike Alex in the front of his neck.

Alex coughs out some of his air and loses feeling in his body for a moment, giving Justek just enough time to swing his left hand to grab Alex by the front of his head and mercilessly throw him to the ground, where he skids forward for a few seconds. Justek then stands back upright and nudges his glasses while remarking without missing a beat "-touching me. Alas, it seems you are only capable of applying brute force to all of your attacks. The original Elemental Overlord was my friend once, so it should be clear that I have plenty of experience seeing what his powers are capable of."

Alex pushes himself off the ground and gets onto his feet, but Justek had already moved his staff into his left hand and swung it out to smack Alex on the left side of his face hard enough to send him flying a few feet through the air, where he lands on the ground on the side of his body with his arms and legs close to him. Alex clenched his fists and got onto his feet in a few seconds, glaring at Justek as he let out a couple pants, followed by him then letting out an absolutely livid roar that causes fire to tower out of his body and cascade towards Justek.

Justek once again proved Alex's futility by creating a series of vortexes in front of him that swallows up the flames, but Alex tries to attack him from behind with a curved mound of solid rock that is created from the ground. Justek just lifts his left hand behind himself and sends out a series of energy blasts into the rock to destroy it, though while he's focused on that Alex leaps into the air and creates electricity in his hands powerful enough to leave static across the entire arena, and he then thrusts his hands down and sends forth an incredibly massive lightning bolt.

Justek creates a gigantic vortex above his head to swallow up the lightning bolt, all the while casually waving his hand in front of his body and discharging energy into twelve spheres that hide away in small vortexes for the time being. By the time Alex's lightning attack comes to an end, Justek pulls away the vortex above him and glances upward, and then as Alex prepares another lightning bolt he summons the twelve vortexes from a moment ago and pushes out the energy into the form of swift spikes that impale themselves through Alex's body.

But the energy leaves no physical wounds, instead attacking his elemental energy directly, which led to Alex feeling stunned for a few seconds. Justek then summoned another vortex above Alex and threw his staff through one in front of him. With his guidance, Justek makes the staff hit Alex from behind and drag him straight to the ground, and the moment he collides with the ground he finally coughs up blood from his mouth due to the pressure Justek put onto his body with that staff of his.

Justek calls his staff back into his right hand and looks calmly at Alex, telling him with his right eyebrow raised "It took long enough, but I have finally drawn blood from the Phoenix of Destruction. The first of many drops that shall leave that mortal body of yours, but even if I drained your body a thousand times over the amount of atoms that composed that vast pool of blood would not even compared to the number of people you slaughtered in that universe, Phoenix of Destruction."

Alex pushes himself onto his feet and while hunched over he says angrily to Justek "I-I did the right thing by sending those bastards to hell! They deserved their damned fate, each and every one of them!" Justek commented with a bit more bluntness than before "Deserved? Yes, I'm sure the billions of lives on that Earth deserved to go out screaming as they perished for reasons they knew nothing about."

"How dare you judge me, I-" Alex is interrupted when Justek says to him "Believe yourself to be above all gods? You're just a human in the end, a human who got powers he did not deserve." Alex lunges at Justek again and tries to swipe at him with hands coated in a sharp diamond, but Justek moved fast enough to swerve his body around the aggressive assault of his foe, and once more he did not need to move a single step. As he dodge the attacks, Justek made his staff fall through a vortex in front of his feet and then shoot out another one so it hits Alex square in the forehead to knock him back.

Justek then grabbed the staff in his right hand and swung it out the moment Alex was the perfect length away from his body, using the more jagged part of the staff to put a cut in Alex's forehead, drawing blood from the wound as Alex stumbles back. Alex then lays a hand on his forehead as blood drips down around his eyes, glaring at Justek once more with a frenzied expression on his face, though the man continues to stay calm and bluntly states to Alex "Through Lady Auris the original Elemental Overlord knew that you could potentially become the Phoenix of Destruction…And yet he still went through with writing the prophecy on that tablet, he still gave you the chance to prove that his faith was right."

Justek holds his staff against the ground and remarks "And yet here we are…You failed him. You betrayed all of his faith, all of his teachings…" Alex swings his right arm out while remaining hunched over, exclaiming to Justek defiantly as he slowly stepped forward "The Elemental Overlord is a hack and a fool! You claim him to be some understanding figure, but he did NOTHING as you betrayed him! He chose to sacrifice his life along with ending the Dark King's own! He let the 'higher-ups' get away with all their madness and bullshit! I have far surpassed him…! And that is why you can never win, JUSTEK!"

Alex once more lunged at Justek and tried to punch him from the side, but Justek merely leaned back to avoid the punch as Alex struck the ground and made fire erupt around his fist. Justek kicked his right foot up and hit Alex square in his exposed gut, knocking him into the air just enough for Justek to then hold his staff in front of his body and suspend Alex in mid-air by holding the staff under his gut, and as he holds Alex in place Justek remarks in a humored tone "I'm waiting for the point where you start proving me wrong. Isn't that what a hero is supposed to do? Defy the words of the villain and prove triumphant in their own ideals?"

Justek then watches as Alex lifts his head up and starts growling, but Justek just swings his staff over his body and slams him onto his back on the ground behind him. Justek then grasps his staff horizontally and remarks quietly while holding his left hand out "Alas, that's not going to be the case here…Because you have long since abstained from your role as a hero. All that remains now is a beast, a rampaging, murdering monster. You cannot even begin to compare yourself to my old friend when all you do is use your elements to kill and destroy…The original Elemental Overlord created objects of great beauty and indescribable magnificence with his powers, and even to this day those objects left an impression in my mind."

Alex gets onto his feet and Justek responds to his next punch by creating a vortex that Alex dashes through and reappears in front of Justek. The boy then turns around and punches forward to send a fist of flame out at Justek, and the man swipes his staff out to cut through the flames while lowering his eyebrows and saying with a piercing glare "You had plenty of chances to learn how to better use your elements…The original Elemental Overlord, the Master, Alpha…They all offered to help you out, but you chose to remain arrogant and believe that you were already perfect even when the universe proved you otherwise."

Alex throws dozens of lightning bolts from his hands, but Justek intercepts them all with his vortexes while Alex exclaims "That bastard abandoned me! He stopped speaking to me! How dare you say he wanted to help!" Justek responded with "Of course he wanted to help. He wanted to help so badly you probably could never even begin to fathom how much he did…But part of how he helps those in need is to not coddle them like a child. You were coming of age, Alex Whiter, and my dear old friend wanted you to be mature enough to handle things on your own. Part of that was realizing when to know when to ask for help."

Justek holds his hands out and comments "But I'm just being ridiculous, aren't I? Why should the story of Alex Whiter be interrupted by such pointless others? The world revolves around Alex Whiter and his endeavors, that is what you believe, isn't that correct?" Alex does not respond to that with words but with violence once more, letting out another scream as he summons his sword and gets right in front of Justek to try and slash him, but Justek just makes a complete mockery of Alex's efforts by swinging his left hand out and grabbing the blade without any scars appearing on his skin.

Alex then was forced to stay in place as Justek looked down at him and remarked "Look at this…Your rage isn't at all focused. You swing at me without any thought. You are no warrior…You are just a child throwing a tantrum, dragging the universe into your own black hole, one made of pure rage for the most pathetic of reasons." Alex panted angrily and dispels his sword before swinging his left hand out to try and punch Justek in the face, but Justek just creates a couple of vortexes so Alex ends up punching himself in the chest and because of the force he meant to apply he cracks his ribs and recoils back while letting out gasps of air.

While Alex could do nothing, Justek did not let up on his verbal assault and remarked "You claim your clone is weaker than you, but that's not the case. Strength is not determined by just the power one puts into their attacks. You can destroy planets, break moons in two, and even throw suns at your opponent…But what meaning is there in victory with all that power when you cannot relate to anyone? Shutting the doors to so many friendship with a lock and key made of pure narcissism, pushing away those who cared for you with your burning flames…You have done all of that, while your clones have done none of that."

"They have slowly grown as people, developed friendships and love across the cosmos themselves. At the end of the day though, you have nothing now…No friends, no love, no family…Nothing to return to but the anger in your heart. You think destroying the universe will bring you happiness, but that just leads to another flaw in your thinking…Your presumptuousness in regards to my motives in all this. You assumed that by freeing me, that I would assist you in your goals. You are narrow-minded Alex Whiter, you cannot understand those around you because you absolutely refuse to."

The moment Alex has recovered, he immediately goes for his right pocket, but instead of grabbing the Gaia Temporis Alex finds a hollow feeling inside of his pocket. He glances down in surprise and finds a vortex in there preventing him from reaching the Gaia Temporis. "And once more I am proven right." Justek says while lowering his arm, keeping the vortex where it was while commenting "The Gaia Temporis is an incredibly powerful relic, it had to be in order for you to stand a chance against The Living Tribunal and the other Abstracts…But to use it, you have to touch it first."

"It's very easy to imagine that had you not blindsided the Marvel Universe, they would have been able to stop you easily. But that's all in the past, and you have already committed your crimes without remorse. But of course, why would you ever take responsibility for your actions? In your mind, your cause is righteous, the universe deserves to perish for it's sins…Or rather, it all deserves to perish because of the actions of two people? Shina Aurora…And the 'witch of the grey' as you called her."

After Justek says that, Alex leaps at him and tries to punch him in the face yet again, but Justek counters the move by attacking Alex in the chest with his staff, taking advantage of his weakened ribs to break them a little more and knock him to the ground. Justek lays a hand on his chin and comments a moment later "All that poor girl wanted was to save her people and sought you for help…That could've been your chance to mature and become the rightful heir to the Elemental Overlord's legacy, but you ruined your chances…"

Alex gets onto his feet and with some blood leaking out of his mouth he remarked with a bit of a screech in his voice "S-She betrayed me! That bitch betrayed me!" Justek remarked "Betrayed you? Perhaps that is one way to look at it…But a betrayal is only possible if there is a reason for someone to do so to another." Alex leaps at Justek again and draws his sword to try and stab him through the head, but Justek swings his left hand up and grabs Alex by the neck while swerving out of the way of the attack.

Justek then holds Alex up in the air in front of him and remarked while laying a hand against his chin "All this rage against a single girl…You may have loved her, yes…But then your reaction to her betrayal just goes to show how little it took for that love to be lost. So in the end, it'd be better to say that you did not wish to treat Shina Aurora as an equal partner, but rather as a prize that you believe you deserved to have all to yourself." After a few more seconds of holding Alex in a choke-hold, Justek threw him to the ground before any blood from Alex's mouth could even touch him.

Alex then pushes himself onto his feet and exclaims in a raspy voice as he looks absolutely deranged "I DID love her! My love was genuine! She was the one who could have saved me from the darkness and doubts in my heart! She took it all away from me!" Justek remarked a moment later "Salvation is never given, it should always be earned through effort. But once more you fail to understand that you had never earned any of that. All your powers were given because of the effort of others, after all. At what point will any of this begin to reach you, Alex Whiter? I already know the answer, because I have seen all possibilities. And despite all that, there is only one path for you now…You shall die soon, never once acknowledging what I've had to say as being correct."

Alex gasped for air a bit and said "H-How dare you! I am the ultimate being in this universe, the Phoenix of Destruction! I have slain the Marvel Universe! I have stood against gods and mystical demons! I will not lose to a whittled old man like you! YOU SHALL DIE, JUSTEK!" Alex said while flaring his aura up brightly, but Justek remarked while keeping his cool and rubbing his chin "Not in your lifetime, I assure you. There is one last thing I want to say to you though, Alex Whiter…

Justek raised his eyebrows up and commented "Shina did make the decision to betray you, the idea to do was in her mind for quite a while because of your actions…But the only tiniest bit of blame that could be put onto someone else would be that I spoke with her before she took action." Alex suddenly widens his eyes and murmurs "W-What did you just say?" Justek didn't say a word and stood in place without making a move.

Alex stood upright and his eyes twitched, and one could tell that what little trace of his sanity was starting to slip as he forced a grin and said "S-So it was you Justek…You were the one who made my sweetheart betray me…O-Of course…You used your hypnotism to force her to betray me…N-No way a soul as pure as her could possibly do such an action on her own! Hahah…Hahahaha!" Alex raised his head up and burst into an absolute fit of laughter that echoed across the arena, all the while his aura flamed across the ground for miles on end.

Riku and Mew could sense something very foreboding coming from these flames, a feeling of absolute destruction like nothing they had never felt before. Mew grit his teeth a bit and remarked "R-Riku…You're feeling that too, aren't you?" Riku's heart beat against his chest at a steady rate, and he hated to admit that he was feeling completely nervous by whatever it was Alex was up to. "…Brother…Kairi…We have to be ready to brace ourselves…" Riku commented before quietly gulping.

Alex swung his arms out and continued to laugh while Justek just stood still and looked on without saying a word, and Alex finally exclaimed "SO YOU'VE GIVEN ME MORE THAN ENOUGH REASON TO KILL YOU, JUSTEK ARCAVIRA! HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH!" Justek now raised an eyebrow as Alex lurched forward and held a hand around his glove, panting so heavily that his back bulged out every few seconds, and there was an eerie calm before Alex raised his body up and had his expression frozen with a look of absolute madness as he suddenly cracked the magnets binding the glove to his hand.

The magnets fall to the ground, and Alex remarks as he slowly pulls the glove off of his hand "You are dead…Justek Arcavira…You are dead….Justek Arcavira…You are dead…Justek Arcavira!" Alex then suddenly rips the glove right off, and what is unleashed is a gigantic torrent of rainbow colored flames with power unimaginable behind them. The flames erupted around Alex's body as he broke into screeching laughter, with the flames forming a towering phoenix that roars so violently that the entire arena shakes.

Riku widened his eyes and suddenly exclaimed "Son of a bitch!" at the overwhelming power Alex had just unleashed, and he along with Mew and Kairi leaped back before the flames could spread out and touch them. Justek stood against the wrath of the flames with his cape fluttering behind him, and even now he was absolutely calm. Alex then slowly swung his body forward as the brighter flames consumed his right hand, while Mew comments "T-This is ridiculous! Alex is going to wipe us all out if he uses that now!"

Riku shook his head a little and said "No brother…If he wasn't restrained by this arena…He'd be able to wipe out an entire galaxy with those flames." The very thought of this frightened the trio, but Alex was blind to all fear, all things were nothing now to him but the sheer rage he felt towards Justek. Alex raised his body up and his eyes were now burning bright white and he grasped his right wrist tightly, holding it level with his waist before exclaiming so loudly that he was tearing apart his lungs in order to do so "I WILL RIP APART EVERY MOLECULE IN YOUR BODY! I WILL CEASE YOUR EXISTENCE ACROSS ALL OF TIME AND SPACE! THERE WILL NEVER BE ANY ESCAPE JUSTEK, YOU WILL PERISH AT THE HANDS OF JUDGMENT, YOUR PUNISHMENT DELIVERED BY YOUR FUCKING GOD!"

 _Next Time:_


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25: Justek Phase 3: Alex Whiter**

Everything was happening all too fast. With just a few words, Justek had managed to make Alex Whiter becoming seething with rage, and now the Phoenix of Destruction had summoned forth the powers of the Blazing Overlord Fist in an attempt to end the man's life. But he cared nothing about his surroundings, or the fact that he could potentially wipe everything in this galaxy that has been untouched by Justek's black hole. He was consumed by his madness, and there was no turning back no matter what. Riku was panicking, as he feared that he could not stop the attack, especially with the conditions of the Rite of Singularity.

" _It doesn't matter if he attacks us now…He'll kill everyone here before the Rite takes his own life."_ Riku had to act fast and quickly turned to Kairi while exclaiming "Damn it! Activate the Neo Drive and protect us with as much aura as you can! It's our only chance of holding this back without interfering!" Kairi widened her eyes for a moment and overcame her fear just enough to lift her right hand up and slam down on the Neo Drive to activate it while remarking "R-Right!"

As Kairi quickly holds her hands out to cover the three of them in dozens upon dozens of domes of aura, but before they show up Mew exclaims "ALEX, YOU'RE GOING TO DESTROY EVERYTHING! STOP!" But Alex didn't even hear him over the roaring of his flames as he stared Justek straight in the eyes and exclaimed at the top of his lungs "SOOOOO JUSTEK, ANY LAST WORDS BEFORE I OBLITERATE EVERY FIBER OF YOUR BEING?! DO YOU HAVE ANY SMARTASS REMARKS TO MAKE NOW?!"

Justek just stayed in place and looked at Alex as he stood in the middle of his violent rainbow flames, and with a slight lift of his head he looked on and remarked with a humored smile on his face "Ah, the legendary Blazing Overlord Fist. The move that struck down the young Joe Dark and your vile clone. You haven't discharged the energy in quite some time it seems, and the potential destructive power of this move is now capable of ending an entire galaxy. And you think that's enough to kill me? Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't. Shall you take a chance with fate itself?"

Justek gestured his left hand out after saying that, and Alex just put on the biggest scowl ever as he said in an echoing voice "You dare mock me?! I am sick of you thinking you know everything, Justek Arcavira!" Justek laughed a little and said "One cannot truly KNOW everything. But I say as far as you go, I know everything I need to win. Again, I will defeat you without moving from this very spot."

Alex just roars at the top of his lungs once more and lunges forward in a flash, grabbing Justek by his neck and suddenly pinning him to the ground without the man even reacting a bit to that reaction. Alex kneels down on top of Justek and raised his burning fist up behind his face, with flames spurting out of his mouth as he remarked in an almost demonic tone "YOU DIE HERE AND NOW JUSTEK! YOU…AND THE REST OF THIS ACCURSED GALAXY WILL FALL WITH YOU!"

With the flames erupting around his fist in the form of pulsating shockwaves, Alex exclaimed "APOCALYPSE OVERLORD FIST!" and brought his hand right down towards Justek's face while laughing maniacally, his eyes becoming blinded momentarily from the sheer ecstasy of his rage as the punched connected. An explosion goes off, one so deafening that nothing can be heard as it swallows up sound, air and all emotion in the entire arena, the flames quickly reaching the glass of Justek's dome and pressing against it as hard as it could.

Even with hundreds of layers of strong aura from the Neo Drive, Kairi found herself in an incredible deal of pain as the aura began to crack down from the pressure of Alex's flames. Everything shook, as though time and space itself was ripping apart at the seams. Mew held on to Kairi with all of his strength to keep her steady, but her nose began to bleed out a bit as she screamed in agony. Riku just could not even begin to fathom how ludicrous this event was, or just when it all was going to end.

The inside of Justek's arena was filled with so much luminosity from the flames that it shone brighter than any existing star, and because it was contained in here the black hole the ship floated next to could not swallow it up. For the next thirty seconds, these flames would continue to burn until they suddenly stopped, vanishing entirely from sight as the battlefield is left covered in smoke. It wasn't the fact that Mew, Kairi and Riku just barely managed to survive that was incredible though, but rather that Justek's ship wasn't torn to shreds by the Blazing Overlord Fist.

As Kairi drops the last couple layers of aura and finds some singe marks on her hands, she stumbles back a little bit and has to be caught by Mew before she collapsed. The Neo Drive was barely being sustained, and she glanced back and said with a nervous grin "T-Thanks Mew…But I'll be alright, just give me a bit to relax…" Mew shook his head and remarked "We'll have plenty of time to relax now that Alex took out Justek…But…"

Mew looked around and saw that nothing else was destroyed, and neither he nor Riku could sense Justek's presence in the area. There was a very faint presence where Alex Whiter was at, and it was clear that it was the boy himself. When the smoke settled enough, Alex could be visibly seen, but he looked a lot different than he did before. His skin had become greatly dehydrated, his right arm was nearly cracking apart as it was as black as coal, and in general he looked like an absolute mess.

But even with his body ruined beyond description, Alex just had the most frightening open mouth grin on his face, and he slowly began to laugh. In between his laughs, Alex held his arms out slightly and reared his head back, remarking in a very raspy tone of voice "I-I won! HAHAHAHAHA! You were an arrogant fool, Justek Arcavira! There was nothing you could do to survive my power, the power of an absolute omnipotent being!" Alex began to turn his head and glared at the trio, cracking a grin as his head was tilted slightly.

Riku positioned his body ready to fight if Alex tried anything, but then he noticed something was off here. One, was that the black hole was still active, and two was that unless Riku's eyes were hurt by the attack he could swear that he saw something opening up in the air behind Alex. Alex began to advance forward, but before he could go very far all of a sudden his eyes widened and his mouth went agape as part of Justek's staff pierced easily through his midsection. In a second, Alex was on the ground with the rest of Justek's staff sticking up from his back.

The staff held Alex down, a task made much easier by how much weaker the boy was after using the Blazing Overlord Fist. As Alex gargled a bit of blood in his mouth from a combination of surprise and pain, the small portal the staff came through opened up wide and Justek walked through it, looking absolutely unharmed even after all that happened. Riku's expression became one of shock and he pulled back a bit on his pose, while Kairi panted for air and remarked "W-What? H-H-How is he…still…alive?"

Justek walked until he was standing to the right of Alex, and he extended a hand out to grab onto his staff before looking down and remarking "It's as I told you from the start. I would win without moving a single step. In the end, you were always your own worst enemy, Alex Whiter." Alex slowly turned his head and glared at Justek with all the rage he could muster, and he tries to raise his right hand up to attack. But his arm was numbed immensely from using the Blazing Overlord Fist, and it wouldn't rise an inch.

"H-How…W-Why…?" Alex could only bring himself to say those words and was absolutely quiet about it, leading to Justek raising a hand to his glasses to nudge them up while remarking "You assumed yet again that you could defeat me. It was the only clever move you've made this battle to pin me down, but even then all I had to do to escape your grasp was to put your left hand through a portal to remove the pressure you had on my body while creating another portal to slip my whole body into, closing it before you could ever notice my escape."

Justek let go of his staff and began to slowly start walking around Alex's body, raising his right hand up to motion to the air and create a series of small portals around him, all the while leaving Alex to only weakly swing his left hand out to try and touch Justek, something the man can't even allow him the chance to do by making Alex swing his hand through a portal. Justek remarks as he moved around "It was also quite easy to see that you would use that move against me, and I prepared my ship appropriately with the reality bender's help. It would be quite a tragedy if all my work went to waste because of one brief temper tantrum."

Alex gasped for air, and blood trickled out of his mouth more and more with each passing second. Justek remarked as he glared down at him with contempt "I chose to avoid all of your vital organs. Not an easy task mind you, but I do not want you dying QUITE yet…" Justek stopped for a moment and looked into Alex's eyes, remarking in a quiet tone "You have nothing left. You burned away all the elemental power in your body, you cannot draw your sword, you cannot reach the Gaia Temporis even if I were to allow it. You are a merely a husk on the verge of dying, pathetic and weak, as you always have been, Alex Whiter."

Justek was holding nothing back before in his choice of words as usual, but now his tone was more blunt and focused. He then suddenly smiled and lifted his head up to remark "I shall humor myself one more time with you, Alex Whiter." With his head raised he exclaimed to the trio "The Rite of Singularity is dropped! Shall any of you be brave enough to try and save this man? Do any of you have it in your heart to save him, or shall you leave him to his demise?" As Justek gestures out to Alex's fallen body, it's no surprise that no one responds to Justek's inquiry.

Justek waited a few seconds before glancing at Alex and remarking "See? This is the legacy you shall leave behind. A legacy of disgust towards your actions. No one shall remember you with anything but contempt and rage. There will never be an ounce of pity sent your way, and you shall die entirely alone." Justek held his right hand out and wiggled it, and a series of black spheres are pulled out of the vortexes. Together they had just enough energy to finish Alex off for good, and Justek remarked as he held his arms behind his cape "Do you feel that now, Alex Whiter?"

Alex stared blankly around himself at all the spheres as they lingered eerily in place without making a sound, and Alex could only dryly stutter as his heart beat heavily against his chest. Justek closed his eyelids and slowly sniffed in the air before remarking "It's the cold grasp of death itself…Her presence lingers in the air, waiting to take the soul of the one who led to her 'demise'. That's the one thing no one can ever conquer no matter how hard they try, not you, not the 'higher-ups', not even my old friend...Death shall always be eternal."

Justek then turned to face Alex and said in an unnaturally relaxed tone of voice as he smiled "So…Are you ready to die?" Alex's heart suddenly clenched against his chest and his eyes widened, and after a few seconds of gasping he suddenly screamed out in child-like fright "I-I DON'T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE, YOU CAN'T KILL ME! SOMEBODY PLEASE SAVE ME! ANYONE, PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU, I CAN'T DIE HERE, NOT LIKE THIS, PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!" Alex's voice became more broken and desperate with each passing second, and his face became drenched in whatever tears could be drawn from within.

Justek looked away from Alex as he let out cries and whimpers, and while calmly walking away Justek swung his right hand out and all the spheres came crashing down upon Alex's body. The cries end in an instant as a series of explosions go off along with a flash of bright light, and Justek uses his mind to pull the staff back into his grasp with blood and viscera dripping on the end. With a casual swing to the side Justek flings that off and holds the staff behind him, looking to the trio without acknowledging Alex's demise at all.

Justek smiled a tiny bit and then inquired "Now then…Shall we truly begin our fight?" Mew looked absolutely shocked at what just happened before remarking in a stuttering tone "H-He killed Alex so easily…W-What are we going to do now?" Mew had genuine fear in his heart, and at this point that overtook any little bit of sadness he could have had for Alex's sudden demise. Justek turned his head slightly and glanced at Riku, gesturing his left hand out before inquiring "Perhaps you would like to go next, Phoenix of Balance?" Mew and Kairi both glanced at Riku, with Mew stating to him as he turned his head "Riku we have to take him together, there's no way-"

Mew stopped for a moment upon seeing Riku folding his arms together and having a confident look in his eyes, though he was also in the middle of firmly glaring at Justek. "R-Riku?" Mew stuttered out before Riku moved his arms away from his chest and said quietly and bluntly "Yeah, I'll be your next opponent, Justek." Riku took a couple steps forward before he was stopped by Mew exclaiming "Don't be ridiculous Riku! We have to fight him all at once!"

Riku ignored that remark and clenched his fist slightly before saying "Kairi, please keep my brother safe after you've healed up. Use that vial if you have to, but don't worry about me. If somehow I can't do this, then it's all up to you to make sure my brother makes it through this alive!" Mew widened his eyes as Kairi reluctantly nodded her head, and as he pulls away from her Mew exclaimed while swinging a fist forward "You can't be serious Riku! You aren't planning on throwing your life away, are you?!"

Riku clenched his fists more and remarked "Brother, please stand back…" Mew shook his head and ran forward enough to grab Riku by his right arm before he could move another step, telling him bluntly "Forget that! If the three of us work together-" Riku suddenly exclaimed angrily "Are you stupid?!" Mew widened his eyes in surprise at the sudden outburst, especially once Riku tugged to pull his arm away from his brother's grasp.

Riku took another step forward while stating "Justek will just use the Rite of Singularity again! He can single any one of us out unless I willingly be his opponent! I have the best chance of stopping him now that I've seen what he is capable of!" Mew exclaimed bitterly "That's ridiculous still! You could die! Do you not get that?! I don't want to lose you brother!"

Pausing in place with a heavy feeling in his heart the moment he heard that last word, Riku held his head up a bit and said calmly "…And I don't want to lose you more than anything else in this universe, brother. You deserve happiness, and I'll do anything to make sure you get that. That's why you can't fight this battle, because you are too weak to stop Justek…Please, stand back and let your brother handle this one. I'm not Alex Whiter, I will not take Justek's powers lightly…" Mew froze in place with his hand raised after Riku's response, as he did not know what to say now.

Kairi walked up to Mew to the best of her ability and tugged on the back of his shirt, and Mew got the hint that he needed to step back and let the fight commence without further interruptions. Once the two were back a safe distance, Riku glanced over his shoulder at him and then back at Justek, who finally responded to everything with a bit of a grin on his face and a chuckle. Riku raised an eyebrow and commented "You find this funny?"

Justek swung a hand out and remarked "Not in the way you would think I might. You've come quite a ways Riku. No longer are you the naïve Elemental Overlord who failed to protect the Hero of Time from his demise. Though you seem to have developed a bit of a protective complex towards your brother through your adventures." Riku holds his right hand out and summons his sword, remarking bluntly to Justek "I'm not going to waste time speaking with you, Justek."

"Is it truly a waste of time though? It's not like the universe is going anywhere but forward into the black holes I have summoned, after all. You shall have plenty of time to save everything, I assure you." Justek commented nonchalantly, and then Riku pointed his sword at him and commented "Let me rephrase that then. You have nothing I want to listen to you say." Justek paused for a moment and then placed his staff against the ground, looking at Riku before asking him "Then I would like to hear something from you. Are you angry at me for killing Alex Whiter?"

Riku raised his eyebrows and remarked "No. I'm not a petty type of person. Alex Whiter needed to be stopped, it doesn't matter who did the deed so long as it was done and over with. " Justek held his left hand out and commented "An appropriate answer. But let me ask you this then…What separates your desire to kill Alex from Alex's desire to kill Shina and the witch of the grey?" Riku lowered his sword for a moment and then remarked to Justek "Alex was wanting to take the entire universe down with him just to take care of two people. I could maybe have even sympathized with his motives if he just chose to go after the two people that wronged him and left no one else out of it. That's what separates us…My retribution towards Alex for the crimes he committed were pure and focused."

Justek smiled a bit at that and then commented "And yet you nearly attacked Kairi for defending Alex. Seems your focus is only rough in the end, wouldn't you say?" Riku briefly flinched before remarking "I suppose you aren't too wrong there…And I will have to apologize to Kairi for that once this is all said and done." "But it's all a matter of whether or not you actually survive." Justek comments nonchalantly.

Riku holds his sword in front of his chest and comments "You don't intimidate me Justek. You say you have seen all possibilities, but that includes all instances where you will lose this battle. I will do everything in my power to make your defeat a 100% guarantee!" As Riku began to focus on all the elements he could use at the exact same time, Justek commented "It is truly the folly of all those who rely on clairvoyance. They always assume that they will win because that's the future they choose to say. Many a times has a clairvoyant lost because they refused to take the scenarios where they could lose into consideration."

As waves of golden energy wash over Riku's body and fills the arena with a gigantic abundance of elemental energy, Justek smirked a bit and commented "But I have seen everything. Whether I want to or not I have seen every possibility…So the question remains Riku…Can you actually make the proper choices to throw me off-guard and win?" Mew stands in awe as Riku slowly transforms into something he hadn't seen before, and the power he exuded was quite pure and magnificent.

Mew blinked a couple of times with his mouth agape, and Kairi remarked as the waves of Riku's energy washed over her "It's…It's so warm…What is this power, Mew?" Mew could only say as the six wings spread from Riku's back and he was adorned with his golden robes and holy aura "I think…It's everything he's got. Every element from fire to darkness is a part of him…You can't sense him, can you Kairi?" Kairi just shook her head, and Mew just chuckled a bit and said "Y-You weren't kidding then Riku…I'm way out of my league here…"

Now that Riku was in his Genesis Form, he held his right hand up and created a long blade of pure energy that radiated across it's entire form, and Justek just nudged his glasses slightly before swinging his staff in front of his body and remarking "Now I shall actually start taking this seriously. I suppose this is the beginning of the end, so how fitting that a seraph would stand here to judge me." After one second, Riku clenched his newly formed sword and charged at Justek.

There were no words shared as Riku got in front of Justek in a nanosecond and swung his sword out. Justek created a diagonal vortex to take Riku's attack head-on, but the boy moved quickly behind him after letting go of his sword so he could then punch Justek right in the back. Justek could not create a vortex fast enough and the punch released a snap in the air and a golden shockwave as Justek lurched forward slightly and let out a grunt of pain. Mew and Kairi just widened their mouths in surprise at how Riku successfully connected an attack.

Justek flips around and flies back to try and slip into a portal, but Riku stands up and swings his arm to create a chain of darkness that grabs Justek around the waist and pulls him his way with a swift yank. Justek quickly creates another portal between him and Riku to try and escape, but Riku reacts with ludicrous timing and pulls himself back to get Justek over the portal and slam him against the ground behind where he stands. Justek lets out another light grunt but quickly creates a portal to try and escape.

Riku swings his right hand out and a shockwave bursts through the air before a series of mountainous spiked rocks erupt from the ground to push Justek into the air and keep him away from the portal. Riku then draws another energy sword and increases it's length so he can swing it out at the rocks, overloading them with energy so they could explode in a shining golden blast. Justek leaps off the top of the rocks before the blasts can reach him and nudges his glasses up a bit while summoning a series of portals that fire off large holy beams of light at Riku, each one roaring as they emerge.

Riku rapidly swings his arms out and catches all of the light beams, putting the energy into his body as Justek drops down through a speed boosting portal and uses the sharp end of his staff to slice across the front of Riku's body as his aura flared up, but Riku just flinched slightly at the attack and quickly punched Justek in the chin with the light he had gained earlier. Justek was launched into the air with the bones in his jaw cracked slightly, but with a couple quick flips Justek leaped into another portal before Riku could throw a chain out to keep him in the area.

Swinging his arms out all around his body in the span of a couple seconds, Riku opened portals of darkness to try and flush Justek out into the open via sending bombs of light through the portals. But as the explosions rip apart the realm of darkness it turns out Justek had slipped into another realm and emerged behind Riku a moment later, but in his attempt to attack with a broad stroke of his staff Riku detects him and turns around to punch him three times in the chest with gigantic bursts of golden lightning erupting from every blow.

Justek's chain mail cracked a bit from the attacks but Justek swung his staff out quickly to block another one of Riku's punches. Riku pushes vines out of the pores in his skin and wraps them around Justek's staff, pulling back to get the staff out of the man's grasp and then snapping it in two with an impact on his kneecaps. Riku then wielded both parts of the staff and smacked Justek around with them, repeatedly hitting him before knocking him into the air, following up by leaping at him and dragging him to the ground with a rapid-fire set of hits as he spun through the air.

Each attack shook the air and eventually cracked through more of Justek's armor, but Justek planted a portal below himself so the momentum of Riku's attacks would allow him to shoot through it instead of impacting against the ground. Riku swung his arms out with the tips of the staffs sharpened, but upon realizing he failed to cut into Justek he quickly glances around and gets a feel for every molecule of air to make sure that the very moment Justek emerges he'll be ready.

The slightest disruption in the air causes Riku to turn around and raise a hand to rip open the emerging vortex with a beam of pure white flames, but Justek was nowhere behind it. The vortex was a distraction, and Justek is able to use two smaller ones to get the halves of his staff back. Riku glances at the vortexes and then renews his focus once more, as he knew Justek could not hide away forever. Sure enough, Justek's energy signal came through a vortex that opened up, and Riku didn't waste any time in turning around and leaping through the vortex to pursue the man.

With one punch, Riku cracks the air and knocks Justek out of whatever dimension he was hiding in, where the man tumbles back once before landing gently on his feet, his staff put back together and held in his right hand. Justek slides back on the ground as Riku charges after him, but after a bit of a smirk on his face the moment Riku throws a punch out full of white flames Justek's body shatters apart. Riku quickly realizes that Justek had duped him with the same technique Lunis used, but by the time he turns around four more Justeks leaped out and sliced across his body with their duplicate staffs.

Though the damage was minor, Riku felt he knew what Justek's plan was at this point…To win via a war of attrition. Riku swung his arms out and created four blades of light to slice through the Justek's that attacked him, then he extended his fingers out and created a series of powerful lightning streams that focused on the energy of Justek's nerves, picking out the real one from the rest of the clones that emerged through the vortexes and piercing their chest with incredible ease. Riku then tugs to pull Justek over to him in an instant. Riku then stamped the ground with his foot while pulling Justek forward, and a spear of light pierces through the man's chest and throws him into the air.

Riku rises up and creates two energy swords, flying around Justek's body and rapidly slashing at him to fill the sky with glowing slashes. Justek keeps his concentration enough and helps defend himself with his staff and surrounds the air around Riku with dozens of vortexes, firing upon him with a bombardment of exploding black energy spheres while he quickly slips into a vortex of his own. Riku spins his blades around to deflect most of the spheres, and then after building up enough momentum he swings his blades forward and slices through all the vortexes in front of him to destroy them.

Riku then flies out to the ground and turns around as Justek emerges from a portal, stabbing him through the chest and actually making him freeze in place from surprise. Riku then stood his ground with all of his might and focused whatever energy he could into his right fist, where he punches Justek square in the face, causing the energy sword to explode on him while he's pushed back along the ground, a resounding boom going through the arena a moment later. Justek stopped moving twenty feet away from Riku, with his shoulder armor shattered and his chest now having a slight hole in it.

Justek lifts his head up and still maintains his cool, though his nose was bleeding and his glasses were cracked. Justek nudged his glasses again and with a smile on his face he remarks "Bravo Riku…You are the first person to draw blood from me in over two-thousand years. Your power is almost worthy of being compared to what my old friend was capable of wielding." Justek claps his hands a couple of times, and Riku stands upright and remarks in a puzzled tone "Just what are you hiding, Justek?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Justek says in a coy tone of voice, and Riku bluntly tells him "You're taking this way too calmly. You still have a trick up your sleeve that you plan to use against me, don't you?" Justek remarks while holding his arms out and grinning "Now that's a bold assumption, is it not? Can a villain not be allowed to take his defeat in stride?"

Riku was about to jump Justek, but suspected that might be what the man wanted him to do now. Clenching his fists tightly and staying cautious, Riku commented "I'm not exactly used to villains being defeated quietly. It's easy to suspect you have something up your sleeve because of that, Justek." Justek turned his grin into a simpler smirk and then commented "I suppose lying at this point would be nothing more than simple stalling."

Justek reaches for the side of his glasses and then remarks "There are so many things that made the Phoenix of Destruction's demise funnier than it had any right to be. One was that I had a hand in Shina's betrayal, two was that the second person he wanted obliterated through my actions happens to be a close friend of mine, and three…" Justek suddenly put on a little more serious expression as he suddenly took his glasses off, as his eyes began to change into a more draconic form, with slit-like pupils and a venomous orange pair of irises replacing what he had before, leading to him remarking bluntly "Even without the original Elemental Overlord restricting him, he never stood a chance against me…"

 _Next Time: Desperation_


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26: Justek Phase 4: Black Hole Wyvern**

The moment Justek's eyes changed, Riku commented "I knew it…Despite your appearances, you aren't at all human. You're a dragon, aren't you?" Justek grinned a little and remarked as he looked at Riku "You are only a third of the way right there. Allow me to explain, since we have a bit of time to do so." Riku remained cautious for the time being since he knew just leaping at Justek after he has shown this change in his eyes could potentially lead to trouble.

Justek held his glasses before his neck and remarked calmly "Have you ever heard of Halflings? It's the universal moniker for those who were born half-beast, half-human. Your brother happened to meet one a couple weeks ago by the name of Priscilla, and her beastly half is that of a dragon. Though in her case, she was a dragon Halfling born from another planet than the one I came from." Justek then shut his eyelids as Riku remarked "So you're saying you are a dragon Halfling."

"You are two thirds of the way there by now when it comes to the truth, so allow me to fill in that last little blank." Justek commented briefly before going on to explain in greater detail "I'm sure the lack of prior revelation on some of these things is starting to get tiresome, but it was just another part of history that was chosen to remain hidden from the rest of the universe. In the time of the nine elemental tribes and the Aurians, there were two others tribes who stood independent of those tribes, with not even the Ten Sages bothering to try and control them."

"At first these two tribes cared not for one another, but then one day the leader proposed a union of the two tribes through a marriage. The couple agreed to the marriage only if they were allowed the chance to see if they would truly love each other, and their bond did eventually prove to be one spent together throughout eternity. I was the result of that union, a child born from the blood of two Halflings. My father was a Dragon Halfling…While my mother, whose blood primarily flows through my veins, was a Wyvern Halfling. I suppose it's safe to not call me a Halfling at this point, but even so…"

When Justek's explanation was at an end Riku clenched his fists and commented "So all you're saying is that you can transform into a beast…Fine, I'm glad I learned a bit more about your history, but I won't let you transform!" Riku then chooses to fly straight at Justek, but then a series of vortexes surrounded Justek's body and forced Riku to fly back before he went into one. Justek remarked while opening his eyelids "I made it clear that you had to make the right decisions to defeat me, Riku. You chose to err on the side of caution instead of attacking me right away."

Justek spread the cage of vortexes outward to cover a larger area around his body, and he went on to exclaim slightly "It's too late now. I shall show you the power I hold proudly in my blood!" Riku draws his energy sword and tries to slice through the vortexes as Justek snaps his staff in two and then bends forward, but Justek creates a series of wide vortexes to meet Riku's attacks and prevent him from breaking through the cage. The vortexes release bursts of energy and shake the ship with each release as Justek lets out a deep snarling growl.

The sound of Justek's bones cracking could be heard from within the cage as small boney protrusions stick out from Justek's spine and his body began to grow in size. Two wings grow out from the sides of his back as his entire body transforms into a more beast-like form, with blue flames surrounding the halves of his staff. Riku lands on the ground and watches as a dark black glow spreads out from the center of the vortexes, the cage shattering apart as a heavy power surges out from within. Riku widens his eyes slightly and finds himself having to lift his head up as Justek emerges from the dark glow.

He was now fifteen feet tall, with the smooth skinned body of a wyvern with black skin and a flesh colored midsection that had some degree of muscle on it. Unlike a wyvern, Justek had large arms made of black scaled skin, and though they were a little shorter the legs had the exact same color and texture to them. There were five fingers and toes on each limb, and the claws attached to them were violet in color. He has a small neck with a dragon's head attached to it, which looked pretty much like your average dragon's would, complete with small but fanged snout and with yellow eyes and a pair of black slits for the pupils, and on the back of his head with a pair of fin-like ears. His fleshy wings spread out twenty-five feet wide, and in his hands he now wielded two absolutely gigantic broadswords made of pure mountain crag, both of the blades engulfed fully in pure dark blue and black flames. Finally, there was his five foot long tail, which was smooth but covered in bony spikes like the back of his body is.

Riku widened his eyes as he looked up at Justek, who now spoke in a deeper and gravely voice while still maintaining the same accent as before "Now then…What shall you do next, Riku?" Riku's heart beat steadily against his chest, as he could feel Justek's power pressing against him and it was frightening beyond all belief. Kairi was at a complete loss for words as she looked at Justek, and Mew himself was completely stiff, unable to say or do anything besides look at Justek and feel his heart nearly collapsing from shock.

Kairi was left agape with fright, and after a few seconds she finally commented "His aura…It's swallowing everything around him…It's almost like a black hole…" The anxiety she felt was growing by the second, and in hopes of finding some comfort she could only turn and cuddle against Mew's chest. But Mew couldn't bring himself to do anything even in this dire of situations. No joke would befit this situation, there was nothing he could say to assure Kairi that everything would be alright…He knew, at this very moment, that he was absolutely useless.

After a few more seconds of staring up at Justek, Riku clenched his fists tightly and remarked while trying to act bravely "I-I'm not going to give up Justek! If this is the full extent of your power, then I can still defeat you!" Justek grinned with his draconic fangs and remarked "This is your strongest form…Can you truly muster up the power to defeat me as I stand before you now? Fate does not look kind for you at this junction, Riku…"

Riku clenched his teeth and gulped a little bit before remarking "I may be in my strongest form, but I haven't used all of the power at my disposal! I will show you all of it, right here, RIGHT NOW!" Riku then swings his arms in front of his chest and concentrates as hard as he could, forcing his power to rise at an incredible and rapid pace. His body began to burn up with golden flames, as he Riku became a pure embodiment of the elements themselves. The atmosphere of the arena transformed into a wavy, bright neon environment, and slowly Riku lost the feeling of his own body.

But before that feeling was all gone, Riku thought about his own stakes in this battle, and all the worlds he had gone to came up in his mind. Each world was being swallowed into Justek's black holes across the universe, the trillions of lives that had likely been snuffed out weighing heavily on Riku's mind. He wished he could have done something to save them sooner, but vowed with all of his heart to bring them all back with Justek's demise. As Riku fully completed his transformation into a being of pure golden flames complete with six wings on his back and hollow blue eyes, he thought to himself _"I-I'm sorry as well brother…But I have to do this!"_

Riku levitates off the ground enough to look Justek directly in the face, and though the raw power he exuded pressed against Justek's body the man just grinned and remarked "So this is the full power of your Genesis Form. You have become one with the elements themselves! Shall you give me the best fight you can then?" Riku glared Justek straight in his draconic eyes and exclaimed in an echoing voice almost befitting a god "I am the last person standing between you and the end of everything Justek! I will be the hope for everyone in this universe, and I will defeat you!"

Justek held his right sword down beside his hip and remarked with an intrigued growl "Then come at me, Phoenix of Balance!" Riku immediately warped the fabric of time and space around him as he got in front of Justek and punched him hard in the chest, pushing the beast back ten feet along the ground much to Justek's surprise at first. Justek then swung his right sword out a broad width and met another of Riku's punches head-on, though Riku pressed right past the blade and kept the same momentum going before he struck Justek in the face.

Justek's face was pushed to the left from the punch as a loud boom cracked through the air, but Justek was able to focus enough to flip his massive body around while swinging his right sword at Riku. Riku was struck with the attack and knocked to the ground, but he got up even before the all the dust from his impact was kicked into the air and ran until he was below Justek's chest before rising up and uppercutting him so hard that the man was immediately knockrf up into the ceiling of the arena.

Justek used a large vortex to escape before Riku could punch him again, but when Riku levitated where the man once was he casually swung his right hand out and the immediate space around him was cut open, revealing Justek hiding in the other dimension with him already ready to swing his swords out. Riku holds his hand out and catches Justek's blades in the center, grabbing onto them and gripping as hard as he could to try and break them, but even with his eyes widening deeply in concentration he could not even crack the blades.

Justek finished swinging his blades as Riku let go, and the cut Riku put into the atmosphere sealed up and allowed Justek a chance to get out of the way before Riku cut it back open again. Riku looked around and could just faintly feel Justek moving around while the gap was open, so he responded to the man's movements by throwing a small spark into the gap and letting it seal back up. After a couple seconds, a gargantuan series of explosions went off within the other dimension that burst through the walls between the two realms, but Justek was not sent out through them.

Riku then flew to the ground upon feeling a distortion in the air, and was right in doing so as a series of vortexes opened up and released sharp beams of energy through them. Once on the ground though Riku turned around and watched as Justek emerged through it quickly enough for him to swing both of his blades down, scarring the air with waves of blue flames as the tips just struck Riku across the chest. A blue flaming "X" is left on the chest for a couple seconds before it's swallowed up into Riku's body, and the boy looks up and swings his right hand up to immediately swallow Justek up in a torrent of rising golden flames.

Justek suddenly runs through the flames and tries to swing one of his swords down upon Riku, but the boy leaps up to get out of the way. Justek has a loose grip on his sword that causes it to fall down and stab against the ground while he clenches his claws into a fist and thrusts it forward. Riku speeds up enough to get out of the way, but Justek opens a couple of vortexes so he can still punch Riku. The boy is knocked back a couple of feet, but he quickly fires through the vortex Justek opened up with a sharp lightning bolt that burns off part of the scales from the back of Justek's right hand.

As Justek's hand glows from the damage dealt to him he quickly uses a vortex to drop his sword back into his grasp and opens his mouth to fire off a series of foggy energy blasts towards Riku. Riku's speed is at first enough to keep the attacks off of him, but Justek adds the vortexes to the mix to keep the attacks swerving around through the air while firing off more blasts to fill the air and force Riku to just tank through them in order to get to Justek. Justek swings his left sword in front of him and Riku dodges by landing on the ground, stamping down hard enough to cause a full mountain to erupt from the ground and drag Justek into the ceiling.

Riku stood on the slant of the mountain and ran up it while Justek was stuck at the top, and he left a trail of golden fire behind himself that split the mountain apart in his wake. The mountain crumbled enough that Justek was able to move back, and with a brief roar he opened dozens of slits across the air that sent abnormal crimson energy at Riku in the form of crescent blades. Riku swung his hands out and threw the blades aside even though they burned at the flames that composed his body.

Justek commanded the blades to turn around and attack Riku from behind, but Riku just increased his speed in a gigantic burst that sent golden flames erupting behind him as he then got directly in front of Justek and punched him with a curved punch, atomizing the mountain and dragging the beast to the ground in an instant. The blades from earlier strike Riku from behind, but he barely feels them and proceeds to hold his right hand out and create a golden seal below Justek's body as he gets back onto his feet easily. The seal released a series of golden chains that bind his limbs and wings in place, and Riku charged the area between his hands with electricity while exclaiming "Forged from the heavens, cast down my foe with all of your might! Heavenly Indignation!"

Justek manages to use his strength to break through the chains, but a pure white lightning bolt comes straight down and smites him, creating a blast miles in circumference. The light from that bolt lingers for a bit before Justek rips through it all with a series of space distorting black lasers. Riku lands on the ground and leaps at Justek, but the man uses the broadside of his massive sword to hold back his punch before sliding back and remarking "Using moves from other worlds? How kind of you to do that, it truly honors those bonds you have made."

Justek slams his swords against the ground to unleash a massive wave of flames at Riku, but Riku swallows the flames up into his body and flinches slightly before leaping at Justek and exclaiming "These bonds are part of my strength Justek! Not that you would get that!" Riku rapidly punches two hundred times, but Justek counters them with an equally fast flurry of swings from his blades while commenting calmly "I'm a little insulted by that. I did know the joy of having bonds with others once before, but now all I have are those with my children."

Riku widens his eyes and breaks his assault to deliver a hard swing to Justek's swords, hitting so hard that it shook the arena again and caused Justek to be pushed back. "Your children are mentally messed up because they want to make you proud! What kind of father does that to their children?!" Riku expressed genuine rage as he once again let out another punch, leaving a lashing wave of golden flames in the air as Justek blocks the attack and gets pushed back twenty feet.

Justek holds his swords beside himself and remarks quietly as he leaned forward "A horrible father. You seem to be under the assumption that I do not recognize what I've done to my own children…" Justek crossed his swords quickly as Riku flew forward to try and punch him in the face, and upon swinging his swords out Justek repels Riku back onto the ground while swinging his wings out and summoning twenty vortexes and fire off silver bolts of energy at Riku. Riku is hit by a couple of those bolts but doesn't flinch and glares at Justek to tell him while avoiding the other bolts with blurry movements "How else can I explain this then?!"

When Justek's attacks were at an end the man unleashes an absolutely massive beam of energy from his mouth that covers miles of space at a time and consumes Riku's body within it. But Justek watched as Riku broke right through the center of the beam and struck him on the side of his face. Justek closed his mouth for a moment and let out a slight growl before throwing his swords into his vortexes and using his claws to grab Riku out of the air and promptly head butt him with all of his might, even if direct contact with his body burned deep into his skin.

The golden flames lingered on Justek's head as quickly threw Riku to the ground and leaped back, drawing his swords back out from the vortexes while calmly remarking to Riku's earlier question "Lunis and Solaris always deserved a better father than I…I tried my best with them, I truly did, but I am nothing more than a shackle holding them back. No father, nay, no parent should be that for their children. I wish I would have the chance to apologize to them for drawing them into this conflict…"

Riku levitates himself off the ground and Justek stands completely upright while letting out a beastly but subdued growl before he remarks "But a monster does not apologize…It only destroys all things around it. The bonds they once had…" Riku rapidly waves his hands out to strike Justek with boiling hot waves of magma from both sides of his body, but Justek cleaves through most of it with his blades while Riku punches him hard in the chest. Justek feels his rib bones break a bit, but he just holds himself together and remarks "…the worlds in the universe…" before swinging his right sword out in front of him to slice Riku hard across the chest and send him flying back a good number of feet.

Riku lands on the ground and clenches his fists before swinging his arms out and summoning forth highly condensed white flames into his grasp while Justek remarks "…and the lives of all around him…" Justek swings his swords out beside himself and releases a massive plume of flames from the blades that strikes the peak of the arena and continue to do so as he holds the blades together above his head and the flames merge into an even larger plume. Focusing on Riku's location, Justek finishes his sentence off by exclaiming "A monster must destroy it all!" and then swings his swords down to unleash a massive pillar of blue and black fire towards Riku.

Riku just steps forward slightly and swallows the flames into his body, creating a burning white aura around his body that looks like a combination of haze and heat, and then he warps time and space to leap at Justek again and rapidly punch his body all-around. The air distorts further with each attack Riku makes towards Justek, and the bones in his body break with each punch. Justek's wings are punctured through as well a couple of times. By the time Riku is done he turns around as he slides on the ground and starts pulling his right fist back.

Justek limps forward slightly but keeps an absolutely calm demeanor as he remarks "This battle is over now. My apologies, but you have failed…" Riku makes his right hand burns bright with rainbow flames, with some light and darkness mixed in to show he was using those alongside the other seven elements, and exclaims to Justek with his expression firm with anger "No! This ends now, Justek! No more monsters from the past, no more suffering on my brother's part, I will end it all with this one punch!"

Riku's voiced echoed across the arena with confidence, but Justek raised his head up slightly and squinted a little after letting out a sigh. With one roar Riku swung his forward and prepared to thrust himself forward to punch Justek with one final blow, but all of a sudden the golden flames dispersed around his body along with the neon atmosphere on the battlefield. He was completely back in his most basic form, and his punch quickly limped down in front of him while his body froze entirely in place.

Riku's confidence was quickly turned to abject shock as his arms limped on both sides of his body, his legs and feet were stiff and immobile, and he could just faintly feel his heartbeat. Riku then found himself panting against his will, and he could barely see as well. Riku, gasping for air, remarks to Justek "W-What did you…D-D-Do to me?" Justek quickly responded with "I have done nothing, in some sense of the word. It was your own folly that led to this moment, Riku." Like with Alex Whiter, Justek was being rather blunt in his words.

Justek stepped forward slightly while stating "Your Genesis Form is quite powerful, and in that state you were more than capable of killing me at full power. But on my end, it was not a matter of overpowering you…It was simply a matter of stalling your power out. You were drawing on the powers of all nine elements, becoming something akin to a god. These consequences were really something you should have expected." Riku could not even muster up a scowl in response to Justek's excruciatingly truthful words.

Justek planted one sword onto the ground, while Mew, who had been silent this entire battle thus far, suddenly lunged forward and exclaimed "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Kairi had to pull on the back of Mew's shirt to stop him from making a big mistake while exclaiming bluntly "Don't be an idiot! Damn it Mew, think this through!" Mew looked over his shoulder and exclaimed "He's my brother! I won't let Justek kill him like this!"

Justek paused for a moment and looked at Mew and Kairi, remarking quietly to Riku afterwards "If I recall correctly, you first achieved the Genesis Form out of desperation to protect your brother from those who set out to harm him." Justek turned his head to glance down at Riku before he remarked "S-So what…Now you're going to force me to watch as you kill him, you bastard?" Justek raised his brows and commented "I may be a monster, true, but even I am not going to be that needlessly cruel. You have failed to defeat me, there is only one other thing I plan to do to you."

Riku remarked while gasping for air "Y-You plan to kill me…Of course…" Justek commented after a slight chuckle "You may consider this surprising, but I refuse to kill you here." Riku widened his eyes slightly before Justek went on explain "Your heart was never in the wrong place…You wanted the power to protect all those around you, which stemmed from your failure to save the Hero of Time. And then your desire to protect extended to your brother once you found out all that he had to deal with…There was never ANYTHING wrong with your goals, but you strived for greater heights too quickly…And perhaps never realized you may have been going too high too quickly."

"My old friend could've achieved the same forms you did, but he knew he would've lost himself to all that power…Not out of arrogance mind you, but because that much elemental energy within one being is a road to self-destruction, especially if your base form is as strong as his was. Even so, your desire to protect all is so similar to his own that I cannot help but succumb to the nostalgia of our old friendship and spare you." When Justek's words were at an end, Riku remarked "T-That seems like pretty contradictory behavior…For a monster…"

Justek raised his left sword above his head and commented "I am very contradictory type of person, I will not deny that, but just because I am sparing you from death does not mean my actions will not still be cruel…" Justek wastes no time in swinging his sword down with one swift motion, striking the right side of Riku's body and hitting the ground with so much force that Riku is sent flying backwards, his expression frozen with widened eyes.

Kairi is the one who ends up catching Riku out of the air due to positions at the time, but she's thrown onto her butt from the recoil. Mew glances back immediately while Justek spends his time picking his other sword off the ground and standing in place a good distance away from the others, and once Mew gets a good glance at Riku he turns around all the way with a horrified expression on his face.

Riku just laid there against Kairi's body without moving at all, his mouth slightly agape with his eyes widened and none of his limbs moving in the slightest. Kairi sat herself up enough after being stunned by Riku colliding with her, and it doesn't take her long to notice the same thing Mew did…That Justek's attack had not only sent Riku flying, but he had also completely cut off his right arm. The blue flames had cauterized the wound in his shoulder socket, though it looked very burnt with lumps and a bit of charred bone sticking out.

Mew immediately dropped to his knees and hands and exclaimed in desperation "Riku? Riku, come on! Say something to me, please!" Riku was unresponsive, and with his heart beating against his chest heavily Mew shook his head and said "I'm not going to let you be mute Riku! You have to something for all of our sake, please! Even if you have to whisper, I don't care, you can't just give up like this!" Mew was on the verge of tears as he begged and begged for Riku to respond, while Kairi just looked at the wound on his arm and tried to keep her cool because she thought she had a solution to this.

Quickly reaching into her shorts' pockets, Kairi pulls out the vial she had been saving and popped it open, feeding the aura into Riku's open mouth while remarking quickly "You're not out of this yet Riku! T-This vial will put you back in shape, I swear, damn it!" Kairi lays her hands on Riku's wound and concentrates to help the aura flow through Riku's body in order to heal him after throwing the vial to the ground, and Mew just panted quietly while trying to subdue the panic in his body, every now and then glancing back and watching as Justek continued to loom in the distance without showing a single sign of moving.

Kairi let out a few heaving gasps before saying "No" a couple of times, causing Mew to look back at his almost comatose brother, where he finds that Kairi's efforts along with Auris' have only managed to reform Riku's arm into a lump of skin and muscle where the shoulder should be. The rest of his limb did not grow back. Kairi looked up at Mew and said in disappointment "I-I'm sorry…It's not enough to restore his arm…" Mew just stayed there with a blank expression of despair on his face before he said with barely a hint of emotion "Y-You tried your best Kairi…I-I know you did…"

Mew cracked a false grin and chuckled a bit as his heart clenched against his chest from the sheer stress on his body, and he commented as the world around him seemed to be spiraling out of control "And R-Riku…He-He also did everything he cold…" Mew looked up at Riku and clenched his hands together into fists while trembling, saying to him quietly "I-I'm sorry I was so weak all this time…That you had to protect me instead of us being able to work together…."

But a moment later, Mew forced himself to stop trembling, fighting against it with some anger welling up inside of him as he suddenly summoned his sword into his right hand and said "I will end this for us both Riku…Your efforts and sacrifices won't be in vain, I promise you!" Mew suddenly stood up and turned around, walking towards Justek while Kairi exclaimed "Mew stop! This isn't the way to handle this!"

Mew gripped the handle of his sword tightly and remarked "Then fight by my side Kairi! Just make sure Riku is kept safe while we battle!" Kairi nodded her head, glad that Mew was at least thinking as straight as he possibly could, and as she lays Riku onto the ground Mew approaches Justek while reaching for the black trigger on his sword. Mew exclaims to Justek after standing still a safe distance away from him "I've had enough Justek! Why are you even doing any of this?! What is the point of your madness?!"

Justek remarks calmly while glaring down at Mew "Does a monster ever need to explain themselves?" Mew grit his teeth slightly and exclaimed "You're threatening the universe, you've caused a great deal of stress for the girl I love and her people, and you sliced my brother's right arm off! I DEMAND answers from you, Justek!" Justek responded bluntly with "My apologies, but I am in no mood to answer anything at this moment. Either prove your will to fight for your life, or die here and now."

Mew swung his sword in front of him and said with anger very clear on his face "No, I will kill YOU, Justek. Riku weakened you, so Kairi and I will finish the job!" Mew was about ready to pull on the black trigger when all of a sudden his body was gripped by a paralyzing feeling, his eyes widening against his will as something started to grab hold of his mind. Justek closed his eyelids and commented "Forgive me then for this moment, Mew…But you will sadly not even get the chance. Fate decided this path for our battle, and you and I have no choice but to go along with what they decided…"

Mew's sword suddenly was forced away as darkness was dragged up from the ground and began to wrap itself around his body starting from the legs. Mew grasped the sides of his heads and leaned forward while yelling in agonizing pain. His mind was being ripped at the seams, and a familiar demonic laughter filled his head as Mew fought through the pain to exclaim "N-NOT NOW! Y-YOU DAMN DEMON, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

'D.'s' fanged grin actually spawns behind Mew's body, plastered onto a foggy mass of darkness. After a few seconds 'D.' laughed at Mew's resistance before telling him "You weak-minded fool…All that stress…! All that anger…! You were practically BEGGING me to claim your body at long last!" The darkness crept up Mew's legs as black flames formed a demonic seal around him, and Kairi stood up after protecting Riku with aura before proclaiming "Fight him off Mew! Come on!"

"It's too late you little wench! Every last part of this boy's body…IS MINE!" The visage of 'D.'s' face spread forth a pair of wings and began to blanket Mew's body as he continued to scream uncontrollably, and 'D.' just continued to laugh and laugh, only breaking to exclaim with the utmost glee "SCREAM! SCREAM AS HARD AS YOU CAN! FILL ME WITH YOUR LAST IOTAS OF RAGE AND HATE, MAKE ME WHOLE AGAIN. GIVE ME YOUR BODY, MIND AND SOUL. IT'S MINE, IT'S ALL MINE AT LONG LAAAAAAST!" All of that demon's patience had finally paid off, and an eruption of black fires swallowed Mew's body in the form of a pillar.

Mew's screams were silenced, and the power 'D.' unleashed from Mew's body pushed Kairi back a little bit and made even Justek flinch. The flames consumed the immediate area for a few seconds until a pair of thick demonic wings with red membranes and bones made of black goop swung out to spread the flames away. Mew had been consumed by black goop across his entire body, which was solidified into a somewhat jagged form. Mew's feet each had three triangular toes, and his hands were replaced with three thick and sharp fingers. His head was circular and covered in the black goop as well, with a pair of curved bones sticking up and going behind his head. In the center of the face, 'D.' familiar fanged grin shown through, but he quickly opened his mouth and exclaimed while unleashing the full power of darkness within himself "FINALLY! I AM ONCE MORE TRULY ALIIIIIIIIVEEEE!"

His darkness spread out in the form of gigantic shockwaves on the ground, and space itself shook in the face of 'D.' might. Kairi just stood there with a wide-eyed glare before murmuring "Mew…N-No…Not you too…" After 'D.' basked in the glory of his return for a few seconds before lurching forward like a gremlin and saying to Justek with a grin on his face "It has been a VERY long time, Justek…" Justek, keeping his calm as he always has, stares down at 'D.' with contempt and remarked "It will never be long enough, you vile murderer…"

 _Next Time: The Greater Evil_


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27: Justek Phase 5: Reaper of the Damned**

" _I can still remember those events so vividly…" Roughly two-thousand years ago, a young boy ran through a burning village. The flames cackled wild, all of them as black as the night sky as it left destruction in the wake of every step the boy took. He was scared, so very, very scared, and he could never discard these fears no matter how hard he tried. His feet stepped across puddles of blood, all of it splashing up his legs._

" _The villages of my people had been ravaged by a horrible, horrible demon…" The boy kept running, tripping over a headless corpse and quickly having to force himself onto his feet to keep running. The types of bodies that he could see varied in form and size, with some of them appearing to have been in the middle of a transformation as evidenced by the limbs of their corpses having scales and some degree of claws. The boy panted heavily and kept running, trying desperately to find some way out of this nightmare._

" _There are always going to be some things in life that you will never forget. Your first birthday, your first lover, but that also means you must also take the bad with the god…And I shall never forget the first time I ever saw death…" The boy was plagued by just one image in his head…The sight of seeing his parents' skulls sliced straight through by the claws of a horrible monster composed entirely of black goop. The monster's features consisted of a hulking body with thick arms and legs, sharp claws, tendrils with glowing red ends attached to his back, two pairs of wings with thick red membranes, and a face that only had a consistently eerie grin._

 _The boy could only run for so long though, as the monster suddenly floated down in front of him and crushed some corpses under his feet. The monster leaned forward slightly as the boy just let out gasps of panic and stepped back, and the monster said in a deep but raspy voice "It seems that I missed one…A lone child, without any of his people around to protect him anymore." The demon grinned widely, his face leaving an impression on the boy's mind for years to come, and the demon then raised his right claw and quickly slashed forward._

" _It was on that day that I lost the light, and plunged deeply into the darkness forevermore…The demon toyed with me, wanting to kill me nice and slowly since I was his last conquest for that day. Had it not been for the sacrifice of the current High Deities of the Moon and Sun at the time that destroyed themselves along with the demon's physical body, I would not have lived…And it was on that same day that I was gifted with those deities reincarnated forms…The newly born Lunis and Solaris, my dear and wonderful children. But it cannot ever be overlooked, that the one responsible for the near genocide of my people…"_

" _Was this demon standing before me here today…"_ It was Justek who had been reminded of his past as he stood and looked down at 'D.' face with contempt after the demon had finished fully possessing the body of the young Mew. Justek growled a little bit as the demon grinned his way, and 'D.' said to Justek "Hehehe…You still look at me like that even after all this time. It really shouldn't be possible for you to do so, but who am I to argue with getting a little anger siphoned from someone before I go slaughter the rest of the universe."

"You presume that you will escape this place alive, demon. You made a mistake to take advantage of the boy's anger at this very moment. Your arrogance will once again cost you." Justek remarked with the utmost bluntness in his voice, and 'D.' just laughed at that while he continued to lurch forward and remark "Oh please…It was BECAUSE you were here that I knew it was perfect to return. The boy had broken the barriers protecting his consciousness long enough ago, but when I heard your name being mentioned I just HAD to wait until the time was right to take this pathetic boy over."

'D.' stood himself up a bit and stretched his arms out beside himself before commenting "And what better time than when I could rob the boy of all his remaining hope? This body is sadly nowhere near as monstrous as my original form, but now that I can use the power of the Elemental Overlord along with my own why should I even begin to give a damn?" Justek raised his brows a bit and remarked "Your arrogance will once more be your undoing, demon. We shall stop you."

'D.' made his grin more straightened out and commented "We? …Fufufu, you assume that girl will help you? She's been swallowed by the chasms of despair. She's lost the last chance to find her sister, her pathetic people have been lost to your black hole, and the one she wastes her time loving has become my full vessel. I will end her soon enough, but she can feed me with her despair in the me-" Suddenly, 'D.' is stabbed through the chest by a rainbow blade of aura, and Kairi lets out an fiery roar of "LET GO OF HIM YOU BASTARD!" before suddenly swinging 'D.' over her head and slamming him against the ground with all of her might.

Kairi then repeats slamming 'D.' around a couple more times before the demon retaliates by firing a beam of black flames from it's right claw, forcing Kairi to retract her sword and leap back, landing on the ground to the left of Justek with an angered scowl on her face and the wings of her Neo Drive slowly flapping behind her. 'D.' slowly rearranged his body to put himself upright and begin to walk towards the two, laying a claw on his chin and cracking his head a bit before grinning and saying "Well, I suppose that just means I get to have the joy of breaking you even more, little girl…!"

Kairi lays a hand on her left arm and comments "Mew left it up to me to stop you if you ever got control of his body. I'm not going to let you break me you wretched demon, so you better give him back before I annihilate every part of your body!" 'D.' clenched his chin and said while leaning forward "Oh that is just adorable…Girl, I control his body perfectly. You cannot kill me without destroying his body as well. Not that you could ever kill me anyways. I am eternal, the damnation of all existence given physical form!"

Kairi widened her eyes and said fiercely "Screw you! You think I'm going to ever believe a demon? I know your kind lies to fill others with fear!" 'D.' responded bluntly with "Then I am the exception to the rule…I never lie, cause the truth is far scarier than any lie could possibly be. Isn't that right, little Justek?" Justek just glared at the demon and told him "I suppose you would know me more than anyone else here, but the depths of our monstrous nature is not at all comparable."

Justek then turned his head and glanced down at Kairi to tell her "Do not believe a word he says though. The fact that he never lies is a lie in of itself. There IS one way to free 'D.' from Mew's body, but we will first need to get the right opening. I shall let you do your own thing and try not to get in your way, but if I have any advice to gi-" Kairi firmly remarked "Then just keep it to yourself. I don't even know why you're trying to be nice right now considering we're supposed to be enemies."

Justek paused for a moment and then glanced forward at 'D.', who stopped fifteen feet away from the two and held his arms not far away from his chest and began to summon forth a massive swathe of darkness around itself, all of it mixed with red and purple. Justek then commented to Kairi "…You could say I'm doing it out of lingering regret towards what I've done to your mother, or you could say that I'm doing this because the demon is more monstrous than I am. Either way, I shall not be your enemy for this moment, Kairi. You can reject my help if you want, but it's not as though I shall be leaving anytime soon."

As Kairi stared at the darkness 'D.' exuded she let out a brief scoff and said "Damn it, fine! But we're continuing our fight after we free Mew from this demon's control!" Justek closed his eyelids and remarked "But of course. Now then, shall we?" Kairi nodded her head and 'D.' finally finished charging his energy up with a burst of darkness around his body and an ecstatic giggle, and with a wide grin he commented "Now, I shall eviscerate all in this universe, starting with the two of you!"

Justek swings his right sword out and sends a wave of blue flames at 'D.', who holds his right claw up and grabs the flames to crush them, but then he gets blasted in the face from a laser that Justek sends through a vortex at him. After the demon is pushed back a little bit, Kairi speeds forward and combines a couple aura blades with Uranus' drive ability to slice across the demons' claws and freeze them over, and then she turns around and thrusts both swords out to stab the demon through the back.

'D.' suspends himself in place and turns his head around all the way to comment "His body won't be able to survive all this pain you're putting on it. You're going to kill him in the end, heeheehee…!" Kairi doesn't even flinch as the demon breaks the ice off of his claws and reverses them to slice through her swords, proceeding to speed forward and try to claw her across the chest before she could defend herself. Justek was ready to defend her though with a diagonal vortex that swallows up 'D.'s' claw and breaks it off from the rest of his body once it was sealed up.

'D.' glanced behind him for a moment and then ducked down to avoid one of Kairi's sword stabs while commenting "How cute Justek…You still have a soft spot for the Aurians after all they did to you…" 'D.' distorts his body so he could summon a leg out and kick Kairi right in the chin hard enough to knock her high into the air, and then he slides forward underneath a beam of energy from Justek's mouth. 'D.' emerged once was he was under Justek and used his claws to stab into his chest, drawing a dark green blood from his flesh.

The demon quickly pulled his claw out and swallowed the drops of blood into his black goop, making it spawn into his mouth so he could enjoy the flavor as it slowly dripped onto his tongue. "Yes…I haven't tasted wyvern blood in so long, I forgot how rich in flavor it all was!" 'D.' said with a bit of drowned out ecstasy, but Justek just took the wounds in stride as they were very small and then swung his right sword out to strike the demon across the chest and cut apart some of the goop.

Kairi then got behind 'D.' and trapped him in a cage of aura, creating a few walls of aura around the air so she can spin around and slam his body against them while Justek creates vortexes between each wall that releases sharp blades of energy that slice into 'D.'s' body to hurt him as well. 'D.' does break out with an explosion of black flames looking no worse for the wear, and he quickly flies at Kairi and attempts to slice her up with his claws. Kairi puts up a divine barrier of aura through Pluto's drive and 'D.'s' body sizzles every time he strikes at it.

"You can't keep me out with this, girl!" 'D.' thrusts both of his hands out and with red electricity in his palms he smashes against the front of Kairi's aura, and with lightning shooting out in all directions violently it only takes a couple seconds for the demon to break through Kairi's aura. But that was just what she wanted as she quickly swung her right hand and activated Gravitus' drive to wrap 'D.' in a black aura and quickly drop him to the ground with a heavy amount of gravity. 'D.' felt his body struggling to stand upright, but he just grinned and summoned forth a couple of ethereal tendrils from his back to strike up towards Kairi, and they were unable to be affected by the pull of gravity.

'D.' made the tendrils latch onto Kairi's extended hand and twist it hard enough to hurt her bones and make her drop her concentration on his body. 'D.' then solidified the tendrils and prepared to pull himself up and impale Kairi with his flaming claws, but Justek speeds forward and slices 'D.'s' tendrils apart with one sword while cleanly smashing the demon in the face with the broad side of his blade. Blue fire spreads across the demon's body and burns off some of his goop temporarily until he rolls along the ground and shakes it off by rearranging his body around.

Justek stands to the left of Kairi and comments "Is your hand alright?" Kairi glances at Justek and says to him in a suspecting tone while rubbing her wrist "Nothing I can't deal with, just worry about yourself." Justek turns his sword to the side and puts it beside his hip, remarking in a subdued tone "I cannot. It may seem like a contradiction considering my actions, but I will never stop worrying about Lady Auris…Hate me for bringing her name up in such a way, I can understand that, but what kind things she's done for me is not something I can ever forget."

Kairi widened her eyes in surprise for a moment while 'D.' just chuckled at that little remark, and with a slow shake of his head as he stayed lurched forward he commented "Being sealed in that cage has done nothing for your behavior, Justek. You never relished in the madness of it all like I did!" Justek just glared at the demon, who summoned forth a few tendrils form his body and charged them with red electricity before exclaiming "All this power is incredible! All of it's mine, and there shall never be anymore resistance from this pathetic boy!"

Justek glanced at Kairi, who gripped her hurt wrist tightly and exclaimed "If you call him pathetic, then what does that make you? You're just a parasite who feeds on others' hate and anger! Mew will never give up, not when he has a promise to fulfill!" 'D.' scowled a little and said "His little promises mean nothing. None of you mean anything! You're just my prey in the end of the day, all of you waiting to be slaughtered until there's nothing left!"

'D.' then thrust his tendrils out and sent four gigantic beams of crimson electricity through the air. Kairi deflects one of the beams with Neptune's drive ability while Justek summons a couple of vortexes to swallow up the beams, but 'D.' detaches his tendrils while they still fired off energy and leaped through one of the beams, slicing right past the vortex with one of his claws and scratching Justek's chest a moment later. Justek stumbles back, but Kairi is able to charge at 'D.' and slice into his body with four curved blades of aura through the air.

As 'D.' turns around and tries to freeze Kairi with black frost, she activates Mercury's drive ability to heat up the aura around her body and prevent the frost from affecting her. All the while she bravely stares at the demon's face and exclaims "Fight him off Mew! We're going to make it through this, you damn well promised that to me! I don't care if Alex is dead, we'll find my sister together when this is all over! You taught me to never give up in under the most underwhelming odds, so don't let this demon hold you back!"

'D.' thrust a claw out through the frost and grabbed Kairi by the neck, exclaiming in a raspy voice "As though your efforts will mean anything! He cannot hear you!" Kairi fought through being choked and used a blade to cut the arm off and then flew back, swinging her arms out and sending out a series of aura spears that impale into 'D.'s' body while Justek smites the demon with a bolt of holy energy from a portal above. The energy cascades over 'D.'s' body and burns away the aura spears, but he quickly releases a gigantic barrier of black fire to push back the light enough for him to fly out and turn around to fly at Justek.

As 'D.' continues to fight, inside the consciousness of Mew his current form stands in a rippling mass of darkness as Mew's unconscious body was slowly being swallowed up behind him. 'D.' continued to laugh and laugh, unaware that Kairi's earlier words were reaching Mew at this very moment. Those words echoed in Mew's mental form for a few seconds, and all of a sudden he widened his eyes open and murmured out "K-Kairi…?"

'D.' widened his eyes and glanced back to see Mew awake, remarking in an intrigued tone "So there's still a little bit of life left in you. But that will be snuffed out soon enough…" Mew grit his teeth as the darkness dug at his face and remarked "I-It's not over yet, demon…!" "Oh learn to face reality when you've lost, boy. You knew I would take you over eventually, and you thought that you could hold me off. Your arrogance cost you your body, and now it will cost the rest of the universe it's mortality as well!" 'D.' said before shaking his head slightly.

Mew suddenly wrenched his right arm out of the darkness and summoned his sword, pulling the white trigger and causing a sphere of light to rip himself out of the darkness surrounding him. He stands up in front of 'D.' in his Light Form, glaring straight at the demons face as he draws his sword and commented "You forget that this is still my mind demon. I don't care how hard you try and hold onto it, I will always be here to put you in your place!" Mew swung the gleaming katana at the demon after exclaiming his defiance, and the demon just held his claws out beside himself and remarked "So you think it will be that easy? Hahahaha! I will truly miss this entertainment when you're gone, you pathetic little boy."

Mew puts on a look of utmost confidence and says while holding his katana horizontally in front of him "I made a promise to Kairi that we'd make it through this alive. You think I'm going to give up just because you're standing in my way? Step aside demon, the girl I love is fighting for her life out there, and you've become a REAL pain in the ass!" Mew swings his sword out beside himself while 'D.' remarks with laughter in his voice "One last time…I SHALL CRUSH ALL OF YOUR PATHETIC HOPES AND PROMISES!"

Mew lunged himself at 'D.' and swung his katana forward to cut the demon across the chest, but the demon takes the attack with little flinching and then swung his right claw out to try and scratch Mew across the face. Mew leaned down and dodged the claw before flipping his katana around and stabbing the demon in the chest, releasing a burst of pearly white that launches 'D.' away from his location and sends ripples of light across the ground. 'D.' grins as he skids along the ground before remarking "Even fighting three at once…I will take all of you on!"

Outside Mew's mind, 'D.' was currently in the middle of grabbing Justek by the neck and swinging him around, using him as a weapon to smack Kairi away before proceeding to try and slam him to the ground. But Justek opens up a vortex to prevent himself from hitting the ground, then sealed it up so cut off 'D.' hand. Kairi speeds forward at the claw and uses the Absolute Zero drive ability along with a wave of rainbow aura to freeze the broken claw, making it stick to the ground and forcing 'D.' to rip his arm right off so he can dodge away from Kairi's rising sword cut.

Justek opened a portal and threw one of his gigantic swords out to pierce 'D.'s' back, where gravity takes hold and drags the demon to the ground, where the sword impales through the rest of his body and keeps him pinned down temporarily. 'D.' goes into his ethereal form and gets away from the sword, reforming as he levitates to the handle of Justek's blade and grabs onto it, pulling it from the ground and then throwing it towards an open vortex.

The sword ends up reemerging behind 'D.' and doing the same thing as before, but once he was on the ground Justek emerges from a portal in front of him and makes the sword erupt into a burst of blue flames that engulf 'D.'s' body and force him to use his own strength to push the sword up off of his body as he stands upright. He then leaps out of the flames and gathers them into his right claw to hit Justek with even more force in his draconic face, which singes his skin and makes him let out a slight roar.

Kairi stands back a little bit and evaluates the situation, laying a hand on her right wrist and taking in a couple of breathes while Justek and 'D.' fought for a little while at close range. "Should I attack Justek…? If I could take him and save Mew, then this is all over, right?" Kairi murmured while clenching her wrist and summoning forth a blade of aura, focusing her glare towards Justek as he leaps back and summons forth a cage of vortexes around 'D.' to blast him with energy, though the demon creates four claws and slices through the vortexes with a great deal of brutality.

Kairi bit her lower lip and then said to herself "Damn it, they're both my enemy, but I can't help but keep thinking I'd be making a big mistake if I attack Justek right now." Glancing to the right, Kairi sees Riku kept safe within a protective capsule of aura and comments "Justek's my only 'ally' right now…Like it or not." Gritting her teeth a bit and letting out a sigh, Kairi spreads her wings wide and said "And I really, REALLY don't like this!"

She then flew forward as fast as she could, sweeping across the ground until she could get beside 'D.' and slice through his body with a thick blade of aura. Black goop was sliced off greatly from 'D.'s' current form, but the demon turns himself to the left and uses a suction wave to pull Kairi over to him while robbing her of some of her oxygen. 'D.' slices through the back of her shirt and draws blood from her skin, but she just flips around and bravely lunges out her right arm while creating a lance of aura to stab 'D.' through the chest.

Justek tries to swings both of his swords down to cut 'D.'s' arms off, but the demon just spread his wings out and pushed himself forward with Kairi's lance still in his body, all the while grinning as he pushed against Kairi's resistance and dragged her closer and closer to the edge of the arena. "This pathetic little child is still putting up some degree of 'resistance' within his mind. You're to blame for that I suppose, but it makes no difference!" 'D.' then suddenly starts twitching, and his face distorts with the black goop pulling back around to show Mew's face off.

Kairi flinches for a moment as Mew gives her a smile, with his actual voice remarking with some degree of strain "I-It's ok Kairi…! I've accepted being part of the darkness…At least now I can be useful. You don't have to try so hard to save me now…I promise it will be alright." There was a brief pause, but afterwards it didn't take long for Kairi's surprised expression to turn to anger as she bluntly remarked "Do you take me for an idiot?"

Kairi then quickly turned around and with one swift thrust she slammed 'D.'s' body into the glass of the arena, exclaiming as he pulls the lance from his body "I am not going to fall for your damned tricks!" She then raised her right hand up and unleashed heavy shockwave blasts of aura, pounding 'D.' with all the might she could muster while exclaiming at the top of her lungs "MEW…WOULD NEVER SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING, YOU HEARTLESS DEMON!"

'D.' actually let out some screams of pain as Kairi continued to attack him, her expression filled with the utmost fury until she stopped ten seconds later and panted a little. Justek suddenly warped in behind Kairi, and as she was alerted of his presence by his shadow looming over her he remarked "That was probably not the wisest decision, admittedly…But we can deal with this all the same." "W-What are you talking about?" Kairi remarked in a rather annoyed tone.

'D.' suddenly pulled his body up off the ground and turned around, with even more darkness surrounding his body as he spawned four solid tendrils out of his back, remarking in a pleasant tone "Thank you for all of that rage and hate, you little wench…! It has been so nice to feed on that for power again after so long…Just keep giving me more of that if you want, I have plenty of room inside of me to be fed!" Kairi widened her eyes in shock that she accidentally gave the demon more power.

"It's just like that day two-thousand years ago…When you siphoned the fear of my people to gain more power to slaughter the rest of them." Justek commented while keeping his cool, and 'D.' quickly explained "Of course. I've been around since the primordial days, siphoning the first ever fear, rage and hate the living beings in this universe experienced. I am desolation, destruction, darkness, demonic, despair, distress, damnation…All those words you can think of with negative connotations that start with the letter 'D'…That is what I am in my entirety! You cannot truly destroy someone like me!"

As 'D.' flares up black fire around his body and thrusts his right claw up to send out a series of black flame pillars up from the ground, Justek immediately throws Kairi into a vortex for safety much to her surprise and leaps back past all of the flames, remarking as he lands on the ground and deposits Kairi out in mid-air beside himself "You think I will destroy you…The fate I have in mind is a fate befitting someone of your nature, demon." 'D.' just erupts into cackling laughter with his jaw stretching out abnormally before he said "There you go on again about fate! Your ability to see the future means nothing if I blanket all of it in darkness!"

'D.' flies beyond the speed of light towards Kairi, but with a slight movement forward Justek leans and swings his body around to strike 'D.' away with a heavy but broad slash of his swords. 'D.' is thrown to the ground while Justek stands sideways and holds his blades slightly in front of him, and with a series of vortexes open up Justek blasts 'D.' with a bomb of holy light from each of them. 'D.' is consumed within the light and Justek takes a moment to growl a bit and then commented to Kairi "Do not worry about that small mistake. The demon shall not have victory on this day…"

Kairi stared at Justek for a moment, still confused by the kindness a supposed monster like him is showing, but then bluntly told him "You know, I don't need you to be kind. If you're trying to be a monster, you're really not doing a job of that." Justek chuckled at that and said quickly "Hahaha…I cannot help it, especially when you talk a bit like your mother used to towards me. It's unfortunately hard to avoid feeling nostalgic…"

'D.' lifted himself off the ground and laid his hands and feet down, looking more like a beast as he took the four tendrils on his back and created four hellish black and red glowing meteors, which led to Justek gripping his swords tightly and saying quietly "Stay stalwart Kairi, here he comes." For a man who lost his people to this demon, Justek was being surprisingly calm. Kairi gripped her right arm tightly as 'D.' greatly increased the size of the meteors to eclipse the light in this dome with their hellish glow and thought herself that if Justek could remain calm, then she could too even in these strenuous moments. "Hang in there Mew, I'll have you free soon enough…" She whispered…

Back inside Mew's mind, he keeps fending off 'D.'s' attacks without losing his determination, slicing through his black flames and meteors without breaking a sweat. Mew saw brief images of the battle outside around his mind, all of them brought forth from 'D.'s' perspective, and it only made him fight harder than ever before. Leaping into the air, Mew spins around and rapidly slices through the demon's body before dragging him to the ground hard enough to release an eruption of light that consumed him.

Mew leaps back and puts his katana into his hilt while swinging his right pointer through the air to etch a giant star of light in place, which he then uses to blast 'D.' with a similar shaped beam of light the moment he gets up off the ground. 'D.' is pushed back a few feet but only sizzles a little, leading Mew to remark "What's the point of your resistance anyways, monster? What the hell are you even hoping to accomplish at the end of this?" 'D.' takes a moment to chuckle as he looked Mew straight in the eyes and told him "I shall find one glorious final battle once this all comes to a close."

"What?" Mew said while raising his eyebrows, and 'D.' said a moment later "When everything is gone and only I remain, the balance of this pathetic universe shall compensate for the demise of the light by bringing forth a warrior that would be my equal in strength. We shall tear each other apart eternally until the end of time itself, and then repeat the process over and over again anyways through the heatless end of everything! I am darkness eternal after all, I have no need to sustain myself like you yourself mortals do!"

Mew scrunched his face up a little out of annoyance and drew his now radiant katana out again and commented "That's ridiculous…" 'D.' commented a moment later "Is it really? You experienced such an event yourself a few years ago, did you not? I believe it was during your fight against the reality bender…" Mew flinched a little bit and commented in a slightly confused tone "How the hell would you know about that?"

'D.' lifted his body off the ground and stretched some of his tendrils out, summoning forth hundreds of mental images of things Mew has experienced throughout his life. The size of these images varied to show which events were more important to Mew, the bigger ones being the most important ones of all. As the images floated around the area, 'D.' remarked "Oh I've had plenty of time to look through all of your memories, especially those that were locked away by Alex Whiter. Remember, foolish child, that I had planned to use them against you before that brat showed up." 'D.' looks around at the memories and remarks "You cherish all of these memories, don't you? Every last one of these memories…"

As 'D.' grinned widely the moment the largest memory passed by displaying the kiss he had with Kairi, Mew widened his eyes and realized what the demon was going to do, and drew his sword ready to strike him, but then the demon stab right through that memory with one of his tendrils to shatter it. Mew immediately felt a sharp pain inside of him and was paralyzed, while 'D.' just stared down at him and said in a taunting tone "Your memories are so precious to you…But why? What purpose is there to remembering everything?"

Mew raised a hand to his head and commented with a bit of weakness in his voice "Every memory is precious…Because I experienced them. They are a part of me, they ARE me." 'D.' grinned and said as he hovered another tendril towards another memory, this one being of the time he comforted Driad over him not being Alex Whiter, and with great joy in his otherwise callous voice the demon said "Is that so…?" He then shattered that memory, and Mew was once again inflicted with a paralyzing shock that lasted longer than before.

"You mortals cling to memories and happiness, all that stuff that is simply wretched in nature…But all that means is that I simply have more things to exploit to feed on your inevitable despair. Now squirm boy…Squirm as I destroy every last memory within your mind!" 'D.' then began to shatter more memories with his tendrils without mercy, laughing as Mew quickly became so broken by the events that he dropped to his knees and was once again ready to be swallowed up by the darkness on the ground. His eyes began to lose their pupils, and he could not even begin to feel anything. Everything felt pointless and hopeless…

"Oh come on now Mew…Are you actually going to give up now? That's not like you at all…" Suddenly a voice called out that shouldn't have been there, making Mew's eyes return back to normal and causing him to snap back to reality, while 'D.' stopped what he was doing and remarked "That voice…Impossible…! He should be de-" 'D.' is suddenly smashed right in the face by a blazing kick, sending him hurtling away while Mew widened his eyes to look up at the figure that saved him.

The person in question was wearing a cloak and looked a little younger than his late self, but there was no mistaking that it was Alex Whiter floating the depths of Mew's consciousness. Alex remarked to 'D.' in a more natural adolescent voice "Seriously demon, hands off." 'D.' floated in mid-air and for the first time this battle felt genuine confusion and rage as he exclaimed "How are you here?! I just saw you die!"

Alex grinned a little bit and said while summoning forth his flaming sword "Wouldn't you like to know? Sorry, but the only thing I'm delivering to you is death, not answers." As Mew just could only stare blankly at this Alex Whiter that was currently in his mind, Alex just turned to look at Mew with a smile that only seemed off considering recent events, and extended his left hand out to say "Get up Mew, you and I both know you're not done yet, so lets push this demon away for good!"

 _Next Time: The Broken Perception_


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28: Justek Phase 6: The Last Memoir**

Mew was having a difficult time wrapping his mind around what was happening. As much as he hated to do so, he was agreeing with 'D.'s' sentiment that Alex Whiter shouldn't be in his mind. Was this an illusion? Another trick by 'D.'? The demon was quite adept at tricking others, so surely this Alex Whiter could just be used as one last moment of hope before the demon swiftly squashed it. But then why would this Alex Whiter take on the form of his younger self? It would make more sense to use the late one…

Squinting his eyelids a little, Mew flew up beside Alex and raised a hand up to poke his forehead, with Alex lifting his eyes to look at the finger while commenting "No you aren't hallucinating. I'm real…In a way." Mew retracted his hand and blinked a couple times before inquiring bluntly "How the hell…? Alex is dead…"

Alex chuckled a little bit and commented "Well you've noticed the cloak I'm wearing, right? Or that I'm a few inches shorter than you, actually…" Mew glanced down and noticed that with a surprised look in his eyes for a moment, followed up by him moving back a little back as this Alex commented "Look, the real Alex Whiter IS dead…I'm just a part of him that he implanted into your mind three years ago when he felt that dark presence approaching you. I'm basically the last line of defense between 'D.' and full possession of your body."

Mew left his mouth agape a bit and murmured out "Alex…Did that for me back then?" Alex was about to comment on that when all of a sudden 'D.' grabbed their attention by exclaiming "You think this makes any difference you little antibody?!" The two turned to 'D.', who summoned his tendrils out and called forth more of Mew's memories to destroy, but then Alex turned to Mew and commented "Hang on a second…" before drawing his sword and flying straight at 'D.'

Before the demon could hit a single memory, Alex slashed 'D.' as hard as he could to send him flying away, followed by him holding his sword in front of his body and using both hands to tug on all seven triggers and remarking "Come on Mew, we're ending this now!" Wreathed in burning flames, Alex's cloak is burned off as he's left in more normal clothes, and a pair of bright red and orange Phoenix wings appeared on his back. 'D.' recovered from the attack while remarking "You think your strength can make a difference? You're just a fragment!"

"A fragment that is just as strong as the Alex Whiter of the past. That's enough to make a difference whether you want to believe it or not!" Alex exclaimed, and Mew flew beside him and commented while raising his katana "It's really surreal to have you fighting beside me considering recent events Alex…" "You don't have to refer to me by my name you know, I'm not at all the real Alex Whiter." Alex commented with a chuckle.

Mew glanced at Alex and felt his heart racing a bit, but before he could say anymore 'D.' enlarged his claws and lunged them out at his two foes. Alex summons forth a barrier of fire while Mew creates a wall of light in front of him, forcing 'D.' to wrap the darkness around their defenses in the form of bulging veins, but Alex punched the front of his barrier and sent out a steel spike that pierced through the claw and ripped itself right out of the demon's right shoulder a moment later complete with a spurt of violet blood.

'D.' pulls his claw back and gives Alex an opening to slice the other claw off of Mew's defenses, which allows Mew to fly forward without hesitation and get in front of the demon, and with a subdued expression of anger Mew swings his katana up and cleaves the front of the demon's body before he's able to get away in time. A gapping, glowing scar is embedded on 'D.'s' chest at that point, burning away the darkness that composed his form while he remarked in raspy anger "H-How can you still function without your memories?!"

Mew wastes no time in stabbing 'D.' in the left of his face with the tip of his katana, burning deep into the demon's body while remarking "I told you! These memories are me…So long as I'm here, they will be there as well! They aren't something you can simply destroy!" Mew swung his sword out to slice off the left side of the demon's face, and Alex leaped over Mew and punched downward to smash 'D.' in the head with a beam of fire, which knocks him to the ground and makes it ripple. 'D.' quickly stood up and reassembled his body, remarking with a bitter look on his face "What does it take to break you then?!"

Mew and Alex dive down together and slice at the demon's bodies with their blades, ripping apart parts of his black goopy skin and spreading it across the rippling ground as Mew commented "You just don't understand how minds work then, nor do you the strength of the human spirit! We're a pretty stubborn race. A demon would never have what it takes to understand the human spirit fully!" Mew and Alex stab their swords forward at the same time, creating a unison spiral of fire and light that drills the demon through the air and rips apart even more of his body until he suddenly takes his claws to the energy and rips right through it.

'D.' lands on the ground and with his tendrils lashed out he commented "Then fine…Enough of these mind games!" He then widened his mouth angrily and exclaimed at the top of his lungs "I shall simply break your pathetic human spirit through brute force! I am far beyond any of you, you cannot stop me! Elemental Overlords, Dark Kings, Aurians, Wyverns…You will all be rubbed out, I shall see the ultimate warrior of light and fight an endless battle with him! PERISH, IMPUDENT HUMAN SCUM!"

The demon swung his tendrils out and unleashed a series of black fire pillars across the ground that tore through Mew's mind and set it aflame, while Alex just commented "I'll attack from behind, get him from the front!" Alex then sped in-between the flames with precise movements while Mew surrounded himself in a heavy aura of light and thrust straight forward right through the black flames, while 'D.' suspected the two's plan and slammed his claws down to unleash a gigantic explosion of black electricity.

Mew slices forward and cuts through the electricity while Alex turns his body into steel to avoid being affected by it, and Alex punches right through 'D.' chest while Mew stabs his head. The demon swings a claw behind himself and grabs Alex by the head to pull him around and use him in order to smack Mew away. 'D.' then slams Alex against the ground rapidly ten times in a row to break the steel off of his body, but leaves himself open enough for Mew to run back up and slice the claw apart.

Alex is then able to unleash a burst of fire to destroy the remainder of the claw while shedding the steel off his body, and after Mew spins around and unleashes a cone-shaped burst of light to blow the demon away for a moment he remarks "Doesn't that Phoenix Form have some sort of protection to it?" Alex quickly says "Well I'm just a fragment. I can't use some of the stuff the real Alex Whiter can. So that also means no Gaia Temporis…"

"…Oh yeah, that was also destroyed when Alex died. Ugh, really could've used that right about now…" Mew remarked while slapping his forehead, but Alex just swung his sword out and said while staying in mid-air "No big deal, it'd be a waste to use something like that on this demon. We're definitely strong enough to expel him now that I'm here to level the playing field Mew." Mew nodded his head in agreement and chuckled a little, though he did find it odd how he could be a bit more relaxed now even when there's still so much to do. Perhaps a part of him just liked talking to an Alex Whiter that hadn't lost his way…Even if it was just a mere fragment.

Outside, 'D.' had just finished stabbing Justek through his wings with two sharp tendrils, but he immediately drops to the ground and visibly flinches in pain, the black goop around his body rippling as Justek stands in front of him with bleeding on his chest and arms and remarks "Suffering a bit of mental indigestion, are we now?" The jovial tone Justek took at 'D.'s' expense left the demon feeling quickly flustered, and after a bit of growling the demon leaps forwards with two sharp and frosty tendrils ready to impale the man through his beastly chest.

Kairi got between the two of them with some blood leaking down her face and her hair looking very frazzled from the heat of battle getting to her, and with a swing of her right arm she uses a staff made of aura to hit the demon hard enough to knock him towards the glass on the other side of the arena while just narrowly avoiding his tendrils. Justek then comments casually "It seems Mew is finally putting up a resistance against the demon's control. Now comes the hard part, Kairi…"

Kairi was surprised and relieved to hear that from Justek as she glanced back to look at him, and then she looked back on ahead as 'D.' wrenched himself from the glass and sprinted across the ground at blinding speeds, leaving trails of black fire behind him as he moved onward. "When the time comes to end this, I will make the final move. You will know when it is time…" Justek remarked before suddenly leaping back into a vortex, leaving Kairi to set up a barrier of aura around her body to tank the leaping lunge from 'D.'

'D.' slams his claws against Kairi's shields and knocks her to the ground, but she keeps her defenses up even as the demon dives down and rapidly slices around the circumference of the barrier with a great deal of brutality and speed, but he only manages to break it by the time his assault was through. With a growl of frustration, 'D.' turns around and thrusts his right claw up to attack Kairi from behind, but Justek quickly opens a large vortex up and grabs onto the claw while pulling himself through.

He was without his swords for the moment, but 'D.' neither noticed nor cared as he latched onto the innards of Justek's claws with his darkness and gave a powerful tug to try and throw Justek away, but the wyvern just stood completely still and with a grimace of it's eyes he opened two large slits in the air and dropped his swords diagonally through the air to pincer the demon to the ground between them both once they landed. Justek then pulled on the demon's arm and ripped it apart, crushing the black goop down to nothing while Kairi flies around him and takes advantage of 'D.'s' entrapment to attack him.

Kairi tries to punch the demon in the head with a heavy amount of aura, but as sly as he is he slinks backwards out of the grasp of the two swords. But with the use of Jupiter's drive ability, Kairi is able to extend the range of her punch to still get a good clean hit onto the demon, and Justek pulls his swords up enough so Kairi and fly between them and then after one spin rise up and uppercut the demon in the gut. Spiraling around, Kairi repeatedly grinds her aura coated knuckles against 'D.'s' body while rising towards the ceiling.

Once Kairi has the demon pinned against the ceiling, she backs off and flaps her wings to detach a series of "feathers" out that pierce into the demon's body repeatedly, holding him against the ceiling. Sensing Justek's approach, Kairi backflips out of the way as he rises up and smashes 'D.' with the broadside of one of his swords, then does the same thing with the other one before backing off with a flap of his wings and blasting the demon with a powerful energy beam straight from his mouth.

Kairi holds an arm up to protect herself from the excess of energy Justek was using to hold the demon back, surprised that even with all the attacks Justek has taken so far he was still able to keep using this much power. But the demon eventually fights back against Justek's energy with a violent slash of his claws out to send three slicing wind blades out that rip apart parts of Justek's mouth, specifically slicing his pronged tongue in two and taking out some of his teeth. 'D.' then dives down and punches Justek in the chest to send him hurtling straight to the ground in an instant, though Kairi prevents further pursuit by binding the demon in aura using Saturn's ability.

This is then followed by Kairi dropping the demon to the ground with Gravitus' drive ability, and as the aura he's surrounded with shattered Justek has managed to get back onto his feet with the help of his vortexes and quickly sweeps his left sword across the ground to send a wave of energy washing over the demon. After 'D.' tumbles a little bit, Justek remarks calmly "You are no threat to us, demon. For all your boasts, you are just a parasite who would be nothing without a body. Why should anyone in this universe ever fear a parasite?"

'D.' stands upright and Kairi is prepared to attack him, but Justek holds his right arm up to hold her back for a moment as the demon remarks "Fear me? No…I want you all to writhe in agony, feel the chill of nothingness in your very bones and flesh! Do you not remember what I've done, Justek? Do you not hate me? You cannot possibly truly be keeping calm after I devoured the souls of all your people? The women, the children, the men…! Hahahaha, all of those delicious screaming souls inside of me!"

The back of the demon's body starts bulging outward, and some abnormal cracking is heard coming from his back that sounded a lot like bones. 'D.' created a series of skeletons and infused them with his black goop in order to create a gruesome tower meant to imitate the living, though all of them let out ghastly screams of agony that echoed across the arena and quickly brought Kairi to the verge of vomiting in disgust as the voices plagued her mind. 'D.' laughed through the screams, but all of a sudden the nightmare tower was sliced apart by Justek's two swords as they were flung through the air like boomerangs.

As the black goop splattered around 'D.', the demon stood there lurched over in confusion while Justek brought the swords back to his grasp with his vortexes and calmly commented "It's not kind to treat the dead with ill intent. You may want to consider your options wisely next time if you think you can make me feel rage with such cliché'd tricks, demon." "Just like that irritating boy…What does it take to break you, Justek?!" 'D.' exclaimed with an angry rasp in his voice.

"You've made yet another impudent error if you assumed I'm a man who hasn't already been broken. Nothing you can do will even make me flinch." Justek said proudly, and as 'D.' felt his mental state being battered around by the mental forms of Mew and Alex he began panting angrily, salivating yellow blood from his teeth as his rage continued to build up. In a moment's notice though, he turned and glanced at Kairi, who was cautiously glaring at the demon, and suddenly he began to cackle a little bit.

"Of couuurse…You still love that wench Auris…I had almost forgotten that this little girl was one of her daughters…It would make you absolutely squirm if she was killed…And the rage that you would feed me would make you that much further below me. You'd be an ant under my foot, just like you were as a child!" 'D.' remarked with the utmost glee in his voice, and inside of Mew's mind the demon stopped the battle and forced an image of what was going on outside behind himself to make Mew temporarily pause.

Mew winced a little and gripped his katana tightly before remarking with some degree of anger "Keep away from her, demon!" 'D.' laughed a little bit before remarking "All your pathetic, adolescent lust will be your undoing, boy! You shouldn't have dragged this weak little girl to a battlefield of the gods! Now I will make you and Justek suffer for this particular folly!" From the perspective of what was happening outside, 'D.' charged right at Kairi, creating a gigantic fist of darkness to briefly punch Justek aside before moving to attack Kairi with that very same fist.

Mew just stands still and comments after taking a deep breath in "You're just really desperate to win at this point, aren't you demon?" The mental form of 'D.' looks a bit confused at first until all of a suddenly on the outside Kairi retaliates to 'D.'s' attack by just standing still and activating Pluto's drive to take the punch perfectly head-on without flinching in the slightest. Kairi then just lowers her eyebrows and remarks bluntly "Are you done with your stupid tricks now, demon?"

"W-What?!" 'D.' was absolutely confused as to what was going on, and as he's socked in the face with all of Kairi's might welled up into her right fist she exclaimed "I'm not weak anymore!" As the demon was suspended in mid-air by the punch Kairi pulled her fist out and punched with the other, hitting 'D.' so hard in the chest that it unleashed a shockwave through the air, followed by her then pulling both of her fists back and charging up so much aura that her fists glowed bright with neon light and the entire arena shook, unleashing all of that power all at once right on 'D.'s' body, which caused a cracking sound to be heard from what was more than likely Mew's own body as the demon is sent hurtling right across the battlefield.

Inside Mew's mind, Mew rubs his chest and says with an impressed whistle "Haha…I'm going to be feeling that one later. Way to go out there Kairi!" 'D.' just growls and says "H-How?!" In a completely flabbergasted tone, and Mew holds his katana out and comments "What can I say? I got a pretty amazing girlfriend. I don't know why you assumed she'd be some damsel that you could easily exploit for your fear mongering."

Mew's nonchalant attitude really annoyed 'D.', who summoned forth twenty tendrils and with a heavy roar he exclaimed "You think I cannot make you all bend to my whim?! I've been in your mind long enough to know how to make you squirm!" Mew raised his eyebrows a bit and commented "Really? You've been doing a pretty shitty job then. Can you ever say you ever manipulated me into getting angry even once? I've just been experiencing normal human anger this entire time."

"N-No! I broke you…I know I did! All of my work has not been naught…! I did not spend two-thousand years trapped in those accursed chains for a little brat to tell me I'm weak! I have made gods bow, I have made demons tremble…HOW CAN YOU STAND BEFORE ME AND NOT BE ON YOUR KNEES?!" As 'D.' just roared at the top of his lungs, Mew just glanced at Alex and the two shrugged their shoulders, and Mew just looked back at the demon once he was done and commented "Sounds to me like you are just a braggart."

Mew then laughed a little bit and said "You know now that you really get down to it, you're just one big joke 'D.'. I actually feel pretty ashamed that I was ever worried about you. But hey, you ended up making me a better person in some aspects, and Riku never would've existed if you hadn't possessed me for the first time. So what I'm saying is…Thanks for being around, but now it's time for you to go!" Mew then brightly ignited the blade of his katana, while Alex ignited the blade of his sword with fire.

'D.' panted a little bit before remarking "You shower me…With kindness…And thanks?! You fool…YOU FOOOOOLLL!" In a moment of pure rage, the demon thrusts itself forward, and Alex slipped around the demon's body and kicked his right foot up, striking the demon so hard in the rear that the beast was set on fire and launched into the air like a fireball. Mew leaped up and slashed down the demon's body with one hundred cuts all at once, reeling back on his katana and then swiping forward to unleash a powerful wave of light that knocks the monster back towards Alex.

Alex hopped and slammed his sword down on top of the demon, smashing him against the ground and unleashing a flame burst as well. Alex pulls back enough to be able to stab forward and plunge his sword into 'D.'s' body, pushing him farther away. Alex then claps and cause his sword to explode, ripping apart the demon's entire body. Mew lands on the ground behind 'D.' as he begins to reform, but before he could attack Alex commented "Hold on a second! Lets finish this the proper way!"

Mew pulls back as Alex casually swings his right arm out and ignites it with a very familiar rainbow fire. Mew blinks a couple times before Alex says "Come on Mew! You can do it too!" Mew left his mouth agape and remarked "B-But that's something only you can do, isn't it?" Alex waves his burning hand up and comments "Nah, it'll be fine. You just can't copy the spiritual aspect of the attack, but we don't need that to put down this demon for good!"

Mew steps back and looks to his right hand, clenching it tightly to a fist and concentrating on all of the elements that he controlled within his mind. _"If this Alex has faith that I can do it…Then I can!"_ The seven basic elements manifest into a fire-like form around Mew's right hand, and he widens his eyes in surprise while Alex affirmatively nods his head. When 'D.' has reformed all the way, Alex bends down a little bit and comments "Lets finish this Mew! Together!"

Mew takes the same stance, and 'D.' angrily roars before attempting to slice through the two Overlords. But they sped forward and smashed him with their burning fists at the same time, creating a green sparkling shockwave that echoes across the mindscape and knocks the demon upward. Mew and Alex then zip back and forth through the air and smash 'D.' multiple time with their blazing fists, releasing the full power of a different element six more times while the demon could only scream in pain.

Finally, with Mew and Alex on opposite sides of the demon, they both went in for one final charge, lining up their fists while their eyes burned with determination. Mew welled up with excitement in his heart as he was ready to say what deep down he had always wanted to. And Alex shared Mew's sentiments as well as they both thrust their fists out and exclaimed with all of their heart "BLAZING OVERLORD FIST!" 'D.' was smashed between the power of two of these fists, the mindscape immediately being filled with a neon radiance as his mental form was torn apart by the power of all seven elements striking him twice over. His roar continued to echo throughout the mindscape as he was slowly being burned up.

Outside, after recovering from a couple more attacks from his foes, 'D.' suddenly stops moving and lurches forward, the black goop pulling away from the body as a demonic face at the top of the goop screams out. Mew's body was at the bottom of the demon's strands of goop, barely able to stand and left a bit of a broken mess thanks to the damage Justek and Kairi had to inflict onto him. Kairi widened her eyes in shock, while Justek suddenly took initiative and sped forward, swinging both of his swords out in front of him to cut the black goop away from Mew's body.

As Mew fell gently onto his back before Justek's feet, the lumpy mass of darkness that composed 'D.'s' being was stuck to the tips of Justek's swords as he held them at a reasonable length away from his body. The blue and black flames burned at the demon's body as it moved around trying to get off, and with a gargling voice 'D.' said "I-If I cannot have the body of the Elemental Overlord! I shall settle for yours, Justek!" The demon tried to lunge off the swords at Justek, but it only budged a little bit.

Justek chuckled deeply as the demon said in a tone of utter confusion "W-What have you done to me?!" Justek glares fiercely into the frightened face of the demon, and the intensity around him could not be denied. With legitimate cockiness in his voice, Justek explained "An old friend of mine taught me a few tricks that had been lost to time…These blue and black flames are meant to trap spirits, and long ago they were used to purge the likes of youkai, demons and spirits alike…"

"For such knowledge to be given to you…WHOOOOO?! WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?!" 'D.' exclaimed bitterly, but Justek just gave him the utmost coldest stare and commented "You will never know. It's finally time to put this matter to a rest, demon…" "You…You cannot kill me! I am eternal!" 'D.' proclaimed out of absolute desperation, but Justek didn't care in the slightest.

"You are eternal…That is true. So a hell eternal is the perfect punishment for one such as yourself…" All of a sudden, a flush of white light appears behind 'D.', and he glances his head back only to be completely blinded as Justek has opened up a gaping hole into a void filled entirely with light. 'D.' understandably panicked, but Justek raised his swords above his head ready to throw him into the void, and for the first time Justek expressed genuine rage as he proclaimed "And now demon, for all the lives you have slain, the nightmares you have tried to feast on, and all the hell you've attempted to unleash on this universe…I cast you away forever!"

Without a moment's hesitation as the demon damns his defeat by screaming his name, Justek swings his sword and flings 'D.' into the realm of light, where he would slowly burn into nothingness until the end of time. The way to this realm is sealed off, and Justek triumphantly raised his head up and commented "At last…Mother…Father…You have all been truly avenged…" There was a sense of relief and joy in Justek's voice despite how quiet it was, and he held his swords loosely beside himself.

Meanwhile, within Mew's mind, the darkness that rippled across began to subside very quickly, as both Mew and Alex stood on the ground and shook out the flames on their fists. Mew paused for a moment and looked around, and while he couldn't quite describe the feeling welling up inside of his heart he watched as all of his memories were able to slow descend into a floor made out of the purest light…They would never be harmed again. Mew let out a sigh of relief and then looked at Alex, commenting to him as he laid his hand against his chest "Thanks for the help…Err, I mean…"

Mew awkwardly looks around and says "Ummm, well, I mean to say I should thank your past self for doing this for me ahead of time…" Alex chuckles a tiny bit and brushed the top of his right hand, remarking calmly "Don't worry about it, seriously." Mew blinked a couple times and then said "Ummm…So what am I supposed to say to you now exactly? I mean, you aren't exactly the real deal…"

Alex raised his right hand up and with a wag of his pointer finger he said "Well it's not like I don't have any memories. I remember everything Alex Whiter did before he put me in your mind. And I saw what happened to him today…" Mew awkwardly glanced aside, followed by Alex remarking to him and said in a serious tone "Hey…I really do want to apologize for my future self." Shaking his head a little, Alex let out a couple of 'tsks' and awkwardly rubbed the back of his head before commenting "I guess it's a little hypocritical though considering nothing's really gone from my memories that would stop me from taking that path…"

"Alex…Is it possible this version of you would be able to tell me what could've happened to stop you from becoming this way?" Mew inquired firmly, but at this point Alex was starting to dissolve into spiritual sparkles, and as Mew widened his eyes Alex quickly explained "I'll try and say my peace before I have to go, since my use has come to an end…" With a bit of a curious look in his eyes, Alex tilted his head a bit and said "I guess when it comes down to it, the one thing that could've stopped me from becoming the 'Phoenix of Destruction'…"

Alex then points at Mew and smiles, and Mew points towards himself and says "M-Me?" Alex remarked "Yeah, you. Perhaps, just perhaps…I would've ended up a better person if someone like you was around. You would've been an inspiration to me with all of your optimism and happiness…It would've given me something to strive for. That's probably why I rejected you so much and wiped your memories…Because I struggled with wanting to be saved or accepting my desire to destroy."

Alex clenched a hand against his chest and with some tears in his eyes he forced a smile and said "I guess what I'm saying is…I really regret that the late me didn't have it in him to acknowledge you as a brother like he should have…Watching from afar, I'm really jealous of what you and Riku have…So from the bottom of my heart, I'm really sorry that things ended up this way…" Halfway through Alex's disappearance, Mew felt his heart feel heavy from what Alex just said, but a sense of urgency overtook those emotions as he swung his right hand out and exclaimed "Wait Alex! Justek is still standing out there! Is there any part of your memories that could help us stop him?!"

Alex folded his arms together and said "You know, there is ONE thing…But I'll leave the memory of that behind before I go, alright?" Alex gives Mew a thumbs up before his body vanished all the way, leaving behind the echo of his voice saying "You can finish this Me-…No…Brother. I believe in you…" The spiritual sparkles of Alex enter Mew's body, making him glow a little as the information that Alex had was now flowing inside of his mind. But there was still the matter of what was happening outside Mew's body.

With his current condition, Mew wasn't exactly in any state to get up and fight…And now that 'D.' was out of the way Justek was looming over him while still in his Wyvern form. And he looked no worse for the wear even with the scars across his body. With his swords held beside him, Justek looked down at Mew and remarked "So ends the demon that plagued your mind…But unfortunately, that was the last solace you shall receive on this day…Farewell Mew, your life was short but necessary…"

Justek raised his right sword into the air and swiftly swung it down, but all of a sudden someone zipped right in front of him and stopped his sword with a blade of their own. It was Kairi, who had a blade of aura extending out from the length of her left arm. "N-No! You've done your part Justek!" Kairi then repelled Justek's sword with all of her strength while letting out a roar of determination. Kairi stood in front of Mew's body and extended the span of her wings out quite a bit, aura surrounding her vibrantly, and with her expression laced with fury she exclaimed "I'm not going to let you end Mew's life! This battle…I'm going to end it myself! So throw your worst at me, I can take it all on!"

In the face of Kairi's stern defiance, Justek could only look at her and let out a melancholic sigh, flapping his wings a couple of times before he gripped his swords tightly and said "So you shall make me do this…What a cruel fate this has turned out to be. In the end, the price for throwing that demon away is to face you, the daughter of the one I loved so very much…Forgive me, Lady Auris, but at this junction I have no choice…" Justek lurched forward slightly ready to confront Kairi, whose heart was pounding so heavily against her chest that it was a wonder she wasn't on the verge of fainting…

 _Next Time: Absolute Determination_


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29: Justek Phase 7: Kairi's Determination**

" _You would never do anything to hurt us, right Justek?" Two-thousand years ago, Justek heard these words from Auris. Even back then, she looked almost the same as she does now, just with slightly longer hair and a more melancholy demeanor. Justek, in his human form, glanced at her and remarked in a subdued tone "…I wish I could say yes, Lady Auris. I would BEG to whatever gods above would listen in order to say yes…But you and I both know fate is not going to be so kind to us.."_

 _Auris glanced at Justek from over her shoulder as the man stood on the edge of a cliff during a sunset, telling him bluntly "It really isn't fair, is it? No one should ever have this type of knowledge…" Justek commented after stretching his right arm towards the horizon "I can make one vow to you though…Even as the fates conspire against us time after time again…I shall do everything in my power to avoid trying to scar you emotionally. It is part of the reason I have tried to memorize all the futures forcibly shown to me."_

" _Heheh…You and I both know that's going to be impossible…" Auris nevertheless smiled a little and commented "But still, thank you for the consideration…" Justek glanced over his left shoulder and said with the utmost look of happiness on his face "I have long since come to terms with the fact that you and I shall never be lovers, Lady Auris…But to me, I shall always have been a very close friend to you…Even if you never forgive me for what I might end up doing."_

Justek had these thoughts as in the present day Kairi struck him with a booming shockwave of aura, which pushed his monstrous body back a good twenty feet away from Mew and Riku's fallen bodies. Justek lifted his head up a little and watched as Kairi zipped forward along the ground and then rose up to punch him a couple times in the gut and then the chest in rapid succession, using Uranus' drive to freeze parts of his skin quickly. Justek swung his right sword down in an arc and forced Kairi to speed back out of the way before she got hit.

Kairi widened her eyes furiously and then swung her arms out, summoning forth a series of aura portals that fired laser neon colored beams. Justek summoned as many vortexes as he could across the front of his body in order to counter the beams, thinking to himself as he did so _"The Neo Drive continues to provide her with aura…Enough to compensate for the high amounts she continues to use."_ Justek then swung his left sword out in a broad arc to lash the air with a large wave of black energy, but Kairi immediately slides under it and then gets up, spinning around and punching the air to smash Justek's chest with a bullet of aura.

The ice on his body shatters off, and Justek stumbles back a little as Kairi then proceeded to leap high into the air and come diving straight down with a leg covered in a grieve made of aura. Kairi ends up making contact with one of Justek's a second before reaching his head, and the aura shatters and exposed her leg to the flames surrounding the blades. She flips right off the sword and quickly shakes the flames off, with only a couple burn marks being left in it's wake. Levitating in mid-air, Kairi swings her right arm back and creates a gigantic sphere of aura roughly three times as big as her body.

She swings it out and the aura decomposed into a series of vibrant streams that curved through the air at high speeds, some of them reaching Justek while others are swallowed into the vortexes he summoned to protect himself. Justek counters by using his open vortexes to launch a series of black flaming meteors, but Kairi launches herself straight at Justek's head while spinning around and slicing through the meteors with an aura blade extended from her arm. She then manages to deliver a successful cut to Justek's neck by ducking down a bit to avoid his swords.

However, as Justek's neck bleeds out a little bit, he shows no signs of slowing and immediately he pushes the broad side of the sword he just swung down to smash Kairi's head and knock her to the ground, though she lands on her feet and feels just a bit of pain in her kneecaps from the impact. Kairi then leaps back and glides to the right as Justek bends his head down and fires off a sweeping laser her way. At the same time, Justek manages to summon a series of vortexes around Kairi's location and sends through them a series of gigantic swords in an attempt to impale her. The swords collide together as Kairi lifts herself up to avoid them, and as Kairi is forced to avoid being blinded by the sparks by covering her eyes with her arms Justek then manages to turn his head enough to hit her with his earlier mouth beam.

Kairi only got enough aura up to block some of the damage, but is still nevertheless thrown back a good thirty feet and her sleeves are ripped apart. Kairi swings her arms out and pants a tiny bit before remarking "How can you still be fighting like this?!" Justek paused for a moment and lowered his swords beside himself, commenting in a genuinely apologetic tone "I must once again apologize on behalf of my rather abnormal heritage…" Justek dropped one sword and laid the free claw against his chest before explaining "It is an ability of the Wyverns that when we defeat an opponent, our energy returns completely, and we are able to continue going no matter the wounds in our body."

Kairi takes advantage of Justek dropped his guard for an explanation to leap at him and then strike him with a very hard punch to the chest, using as much aura as she could muster to unless a radiant spiral of energy that pushes Justek back along the ground but yet again fails to knock him onto his back. Justek chuckles a little bit as he swings his right hand out and summons his sword back into his hand via a pair of vortex, and a moment later he remarks "As expected of you…Kairi."

With eyes widened bravely, Kairi exclaimed "Then I will just take you down all at once!" She then swung her arms out and created two swords of aura on them, sprinting back and forth across the air at Justek in order to try and throw him off, but the man kept up with her speed perfectly and swung his left sword up to counter the onslaught of slashes she attempted to perform on his body. She quickly goes behind him and stabs the air rapidly to extend the length of her swords and strike Justek's backside with the tips of her blades, though none of them manage to pierce through his scales.

Justek turns around in an instant and swings his sword fluidly along with his body, going for a broad swing of both blades in order to knock Kairi away, but she manages to dive underneath them both and then rise up to punch Justek hard in the jaw with her right fist. She then connects with two more punches, each one releasing a bigger shockwave of aura as she does so. But Justek counters by swinging his head straight down atop Kairi's head with plenty of brute force. Kairi lands on her back this time but quickly rolls out of the way despite the pain in order to avoid Justek stabbing down with his right sword.

Kairi gets on her feet and flies back, while Justek remarks "Take whatever chances you can get then Kairi…After all, you are the last one standing." Justek then opens twenty vortexes beside his body, sending out a series of beams one after the other that allow home in and pursue Kairi as she's forced to evade past them while throwing her own spheres of aura straight from her open palms, though Justek just creates a black hole beside his body that moves around to catch them all up.

Kairi then gets an idea and swings her right arm out, using Gravitus' drive ability to grab onto the beams coming her way with the power of gravity and force them to compress into nothing. She tries to then use the power of that drive on Justek himself, but even as the aura surrounds the man's body he quickly turned around and leaped right off the ground with little resistance. He then spun around and smashed Kairi from below with the broad side of his left sword, launching her straight up towards the ceiling.

Kairi flips around and stuck her feet to the ceiling, swinging a large aura sword out in front of her to slice through the many energy spheres Justek fires her way from his mouth. Justek then flies up around the arena with the occasional flap of his wings, getting closer and closer to Kairi with every passing second. Kairi kicks off the ceiling and spins around, rapidly swinging her arms out with aura swords attached to them to deflect away from Justek's own swords every time he swung them out. After one very heavy swing caused Justek to launch Kairi far away, he quickly let out a roar and surrounded her with some vortexes that unleashed a bombardment of energy bombs, filling the air with a vast array of black explosions that kicked up a gale strong enough to temporarily put out the flames on Justek's blades.

But when the flames from the explosions subsided, Kairi is revealed to have used Pluto's drive ability to cushion the blow from the explosions and emerge unharmed. She then charges forward and stabs Justek right in the chest with a thick aura sword, but she quickly pulls out upon noticing Justek's lack of a reaction. And it was a decision she made just in time seeing how Justek nearly sliced her with both of his swords by swinging them through a pair of vortexes so they'd be able to reach her without the restriction of their positions getting in the way.

Justek then commented calmly "This was the level of strength I expected from the Neo Drive. Perhaps it's not enough though?" Kairi exclaimed with all of her heart "It has to be enough! I cannot afford to lose here!" Justek glances at Kairi with a bit of intrigue in his mind and asked her "Indeed you cannot…How does it feel to have the weight of an entire universe resting on your shoulders, Kairi?"

Kairi clenched her teeth tightly and said while glancing aside awkwardly "How could I ever begin to describe that…? I'm just a girl who not even two weeks ago didn't even care about her own people…I'm not Mew, I'm not Riku…It's just too hard for me to even think about all those lives out there that you're throwing into those black holes of yours! And I hate that…I hate that so much!" Kairi felt genuine dismay towards herself for her inability to feel the same weight that Mew and Riku could, and for a moment Justek paused and remarked "…I can not even begin to apologize, in that case."

Kairi raised her head up a bit and exclaimed while glaring at Justek "Stop saying stuff like that! You keep calling yourself a monster and yet are constantly apologizing! If you were truly sorry, you'd stop what you're doing!" A bit of tears welled up in Kairi's eyes as she knew she was speaking out of desperation, and Justek could only reply with a solemn sigh and a melancholic remark of "I would stop this if I had a choice…But for the sake of giving peace to those who have suffered, I must continue on this path."

Justek gripped his swords tightly and commented "There are only two ways that this shall end…Either I will succeed, or you will stop me." Kairi swings her arms out and summons forth a series of portals while exclaiming "Then I will stop you with everything I've got! The three of us will make it back home, and we'll never see you again!" Justek just grinned a little bit and then swung his swords out to cut down Kairi's energy beams with a great deal of speed and dexterity.

On the ground, Mew has finally woken up after having 'D.' torn from his mind and body. He immediately noticed he was lying on the ground as evidenced by him staring straight up towards the ceiling. He tried to lift his head up, but only managed to do so enough to see the black hole was still active beyond the ship. "C-C-Ca…" Mew couldn't even manage to speak one word at the moment before he felt some regurgitation in his esophagus and coughed up some slimy blood onto his chest and neck.

"S-Shit…Kairi and Justek really did a number on my body…" Mew murmured in a humored tone before he tried to raise his right arm up, something he managed just enough to lay it top his chest, though the act of doing so felt so heavy that Mew could've sworn he heard a crunching sound on his chest when he laid his arm down. Mew then looks up and sees Kairi fighting as hard as she could against Justek, her body moving at blinding speeds through the air as Justek is able to keep fending her off by firing beams and using vortexes perfectly.

Mew raised his right arm up again and suspended it in place, shaking a bit with his teeth grit before he clenched his hand into a fist and commented "K-Kairi…S-Shouldn't be fighting this battle alone…" Mew then drops his arm to the ground beside himself and panted a little in exhaustion before commenting "I-I'm really in no condition though…To even get on my feet, let alone fight…" Mew forced a laugh out a little more before stating to himself "Shit…I…I might actually die this time around…"

There were no elements around for Mew to absorb the energy from in order to passively heal, and without 'D.' in his body he wasn't going to regenerate through that method either. Mew then lifted his eyebrows a little bit and commented "N-No wait a second…What was it that Alex left behind…?" Mew checked his mind out, happy to find it devoid of any demonic intruders, and then called upon the information that fragment of Alex Whiter gave to him. Cracking a bit of a grin, Mew commented "Overlord…S-Synchronization…? Ehh…And that's how it works, huh?"

Upon thinking about how the ability works for a little bit, Mew then wondered where Riku was and did his best to start turning head around to try and find him, surprised to find that he was only fifteen feet away to the right, though in his current condition that distance seemed much farther than that. Even now, Riku was still unconscious with his eyes wide open and his mouth agape, at least until Mew said his name with as much energy he could muster. All of a sudden, Riku flinched and weakly turned his head to the right to glance at his brother.

"B-Brother?" He remarked, looking at Mew's condition and finding himself utterly shocked at just how crippled he looked. "A-Are you alright?!" Riku exclaims as best as he could, and Mew remarked a moment later "I-I'm guessing you didn't see what was happening…I-I-I'm so sorry you were unconscious the whole time, I feel this is my fault for not being able to help you sooner…"

Riku shook his head a little and then commented "What happened?" Mew explained as delicately as he could upon realizing that Riku hadn't noticed that he his right arm had become a stub "W-Well…Sorry to say, 'D.' finally managed to possess my body…Kairi and Justek teamed up to fight my possessed body while I took him on in my mind…A-And you probably won't believe this, but Alex Whiter helped me defeat him…Turns out…He put a portion of himself inside of my mind when he gave me amnesia three years ago…"

Riku closed his eyelids a little and commented tiredly "Yeah…I do find that a bit hard to believe…" The way he moves suggests he was trying to scratch his head with his right fingers but didn't realize still that his arm was gone, and he went on to comment "But continue…" Mew then said to him "Well…Justek I guess managed to throw 'D.' into a realm of light, but now he's fighting Kairi and, well…" Mew looks on ahead, watching as Kairi takes a direct hit from one of Justek's swords and the aura on her wings wavers.

"…It's not looking too good…" Mew comments, taking the situation much more lightly than he probably should be. Riku turned his head to look at Kairi's fight as she seems to deliver a pretty crippling blow to Justek's body by rapidly smashing spears of aura into his arms and legs, commenting a moment later "Yeah…But she's holding out pretty well all things considered…Though if she loses…" "We're both dead?" Mew finished his brother's sentence with a chuckle.

Riku closed his eyelids fully and let out a sigh before stating "I wouldn't say just the two of us, but yeah, we'll be included amongst the trillions out there succumbing to Justek's black holes…" Riku then grimaces a little and says "God…I feel so numb right now…Every single one of my nerves must be fried…I want to get back up and fight again, but I'll just fail like I did before…" Riku nervously chuckled at the end of his sentence before coughing and sounding like he's about ready to cry.

Raising his left hand up to his forehead, Riku chuckled a little more brokenly and then said "God I was an idiot…I just wanted to have the power necessary to protect everyone…I didn't even stop and think that I should have trained with all that new power I had so I could utilize it properly…And now look what happened because of it…I screwed up at the most important battle of our lives, and you got possessed…Kairi might die here…All because I wasted my time trying to figure out how to kill Alex Whiter…Goddamn it!" Riku exclaimed those last two words out of frustration, and Mew shook a little bit from the despair Riku was feeling, leading to him remarking a moment later "Riku…Can I ask you something? What drove you to go this far…in the first place?"

Riku widened his eyes open and pulled his left hand away from his face before stating "…I-I haven't gotten a chance to sit down and tell you what I've been up to over the last two years…And now I might not get another chance to do so…" As a stray beam strikes the ground beside Riku from the battle going on, he doesn't even flinch and remarks "You made it so I'd become my person through experiences…Well one of the first things I experienced was the death of a world's hero, Link to be exact."

Mew let out a pained gasp and then said "Oh…Oh god…" Riku commented afterwards "That taught me the value of life…And how I was afraid of losing those close to me that I valued. So that's why I wanted to get stronger…To make sure I would never lose anyone close to me ever again. That's why I tried so hard to keep you away from the fight brother when things got dangerous…Because you're the most important person in my life, and I couldn't stand to see you die even if I knew you would never stand still when our world is threatened…"

Mew widened his eyes a little bit and felt some weight on his heart out of guilt, making him quickly say "R-Riku…You should never have let me be the most important person in your life. You haven't even known me for a full day of your life…" "So…So what if I haven't? You gave me life…You gave me a chance to live and breathe as my own person, experience memories that I will never forget…Why should I not consider you my most important person?" Riku rebutted with.

"Because, not saying I regret my decision, but the initial reason I chose to make you was because of selfish reasons. I was scared to go out there into the universe because of that demon being inside of me…That I created you so you could do that job without my restraints…" Mew said in response, and Riku quickly told him "I-I don't care about that…!" Mew grinned a little and said "W-Well I do…Cause this was already hard enough with you looking up to me like that…"

"Huh?" Riku said while turning his head to look at his brother, who glanced at him and said "Alex left behind one little detail for me before his fragment disappeared…A technique called 'Overlord Synchronization'…The thing is though…" "That the clone of an Elemental Overlord who has obtained their own personality has to synchronize with the original to give them more power…Yeah, Alex Whiter brought it up when I confronted him earlier…" Riku said without a hint of hesitation in his voice.

Mew widened his eyes in surprise and then said "Oh…So you already knew…Heh, figures I'm the last to find this stuff out. Either way, I don't know what happens beyond that though…For all I know, you could never exist again, Riku…" Riku paused for a moment upon hearing that, but didn't say anything until his brother told him "B-But I mean, that wouldn't be fair to you at all…Even if it seems we have no other choice."

"I'll do it." Riku said firmly, and Mew turned his head immediately to face his brother and let out a flat "What?" before Riku explained "It's like you're saying…We have no other choice…Look at Kairi's situation…" Mew looked up and watched the fight between Justek and Kairi. While Justek was bleeding out across his body a little and his wings were clipped off partially, Kairi was looking much worse by comparison. Lots of her hair had been shredded off and stuck to her body thanks to the blood leaking out of her limbs, and her aura was flickering on and off around her body. Not even the power of the Neo Drive was enough to stop Justek, whose strength was as monstrous as could be.

Kairi nevertheless flew straight at Justek and spun her body around, sending a spiral of aura spears out towards Justek's body. They all impaled into his chest as he pushed himself forward and swung his right sword down to try and send Kairi away, but she just flew away from the path of the sword and activated Pluto's drive ability before skirting past a vortex Justek unleashed to try and fry her with a beam of solar flames. She then smashed her right fist into Justek's right arm and cracked the bones in his limb, weakening the grip he had on his sword enough that one more punch was enough to force him to let go. Justek however bent his head down and bit Kairi through her divine aura to pull her away from his body and throw her out, leaving some bite marks visible on the right side of her clothes and skin.

"D-Damn it all…! But even so Riku, I can't just…" Mew was about to continue speaking, conflicted with anger and distress, when he suddenly turned to the left upon hearing Riku's grunts of pain and saw him shaking back and forth in an attempt to flip himself onto his stomach, something his lack of a right arm made more difficult to perform. "Riku, what are you doing?" Mew said, something Riku didn't respond to until he successfully built up enough momentum from his swings to flip himself onto his stomach, at which point he grit his teeth as his chin hit the ground and dug his fingernails into the cracks in the floor in order to start turning himself towards Mew.

"I-I'm not going to hear anymore objections brother! What else are we going to do?" Riku said as he started to claw his way over to Mew's location, slowly dragging his body along the ground despite the friction to chest. "I refuse to let you throw your life away Riku! You still have so much to live for…!" Mew exclaimed as loudly as he could, but Riku just kept crawled forward while stating "Maybe I do, maybe I don't…"

"T-Think about it like this brother…It's my life against the trillions out there…If I don't make it, then at least I can lose my existence knowing everyone else will be safe, especially you…" Riku commented, and Mew shook his head a little and said "Screw that! I want you to be alive! I never even got to talk with you about what you've done over the last two years!" Riku firmly glared at his brother and told him "You have to stop thinking like this brother! You have a girlfriend, a world to protect and call your home, you have to be there for them both right now! You can make it through this and live out the rest of your life, have children, grow old with someone you love by your side, and never again have to worry about that demon! I'm willing to give myself up to see that happen!"

"You deserve that same fate damn it! I won't hear anymore arguments from you Riku!" Mew exclaimed with an absolutely furious expression on his face, even as Riku was just a few feet away from him. Stretching his left arm out, Riku stated "Look at me brother…I lost my right arm out of my arrogance…I've made more mistakes than I've been successful, hehehe…Is this really a life worth saving?" After Riku pushed himself forward, Mew suddenly stopped him from going any farther by forcing his left arm up and socking him right across the face with all remaining strength he had.

With some blood from Mew's knuckles imprinted on Riku's cheek, Mew weakly held a pointer finger up and said "T-That's the proof that you deserve to live, damn it! I wouldn't punch you for being a sacrificial dumbass if you weren't someone worth saving, brother!" As Riku laid there stunned by Mew's sudden move, Mew panted up a bit more blood and then commented while gasping for air "I don't care what I have to do after this battle…! If I have to, I will break reality itself to make sure you come back to me, do you understand Riku?! These aren't your last moments!"

Riku widened his eyes a little and said "T-Then does that mean you'll go through with this…?" Mew exclaimed while glancing forward to see Kairi being knocked out of the air by a powerful slash from both of Justek's swords "Hell yes! I can't hesitate anymore, you're right…So hurry up and touch me and I'll take care of things from here!" As Justek slowly descends from the sky, his body looking especially demonic from the shadows cast upon him, Kairi barely was able to force herself onto her feet with the Neo Drive seconds away from giving out.

Riku swung his left arm on top of Mew's chest with one more push and said gently as he closed his eyelids and accepted his fate "Thank you brother…I couldn't be any happier if I tried…" As tears trickled out between his eyelids, Mew swung his right arm on top of Riku's hand and clenched it tightly, concentrating as hard as he could per the information Alex left within his mind. He tried to form a connection with Riku as Justek stood before Kairi with swords held beside himself, and the desperation of Mew's combined with Riku's desires for his brother to succeed made the connection all that easier to form between them. Riku began to glow and convert into energy, and he only could feel serenity as he began to be absorbed into Mew's body.

Time felt like it was slowing down entirely as Mew absorbed all of Riku's energy, which caused his own body to start glowing brightly as well. It wasn't just a simple matter of Riku's body becoming one with Mew's own…His heartbeat, his soul, all those memories that he had accumulated throughout his life became one with Mew. As those memories rapidly filled Mew's head, he thought to himself while feeling so many differing emotions at once _"R-Riku…I get it now…I get why you wanted to do all of this. God…I am so sorry that I was such a coward…But when this battle is done, I promise I will make it up to you, just as a brother should!"_

While the Overlord Synchronization was going through, Justek stood over Kairi as she was seconds away from collapsing, remarking in a rather melancholic tone "It seems as though…You have failed." Kairi held onto her right shoulder and cried a little bit, saying to Justek as she tried to keep her brave façade going "I-I…" But she couldn't keep it up for long and the tears flowed quickly down her cheeks as she said "I need a miracle! P-Please…! There has to be someone out here who can still fight!"

Kairi begged at the top of her lungs for someone to come save her, her body so numb of feeling that she couldn't even tell what was going on behind her. Justek raised his right sword up and commented "There are no miracles in this world…Only what fate demands come true. Do not curse me for your defeat, it was all what fate decided…But I can only beg for your mother's forgiveness for robbing her of a child she loved the most…" Before Justek could even swing his sword down, he found himself paralyzed by a surge of energy coming forth from waves of rainbow colored radiance in front of him.

This stalled him enough as a being zipped out of the radiance and grabbed Kairi faster than Justek could swing his sword down, with the person getting back to where they were a millisecond later, as though they hadn't even left their location in the first place. As the radiance was swept aside and the person was made visible before Justek, though some light still lingered as sparkles on the ground. Kairi was being held on the person's right arm with the help of a small bed made of light, and she keeps her eyelids open enough to look at the person's face and comment "M-Mew…?" Before going unconscious.

The person wraps Kairi in a chrysalis of light and lets her float behind her, remarking in a somewhat echoing voice "It's alright Kairi…You can heal in there while I put an end to this." The person crossed their arms, and Justek glanced at him fully before commenting "So who are you, exactly?" The person had Mew's spiky hair, but now it had a mixture of brown and black hairs. He wore a long sleeved shirt with black and red flames spread around it, and had some sort of garment tied around his waist. One silver and one onyx katana were held against his hips thanks to the sleeves being wrapped so tightly together, and he had a pair of blue jeans on. The person grinned and said "It wouldn't be appropriate to call myself anything…As I fight for the sake of the entire universe you could say I am everything, but if I lose then I am nothing…"

Justek chuckled a little bit at that and said with his brows raised "So you are neither Mew nor Riku?" The person nodded their head and said with a smirk "I would hate to take up either of their names, and combining them together would just sound silly no matter which combination I used. So you could say I am a being with no name." This response instantly caused Justek to start laughing, though not out of mockery so much as he was genuinely humored by it.

As he finished laughing, Justek lifted his head back up and remarked "So I am to now be fought by a nameless being, is that what you are saying? I must admit, to lose to such a person would be rather humiliating, wouldn't you agree?" The nameless being nodded his head once and then split his arms, drawing his katanas out with his mind and swinging them diagonally in front of his body before remarking "Though really, you shouldn't be thinking of it like that…"

As radiance and darkness lashed out from the person's feet, he commented boldly "It's a fight to decide everything! I fight for the trillions of lives in this universe, and I shall carry their hopes and dreams as my power! I shall not lose to you now Justek, I cannot afford to!" Justek responded in turn with "Ah, but I also fight for the sake of all living things…Hmmm, now that we have reached this particular junction of time, I feel the need for secrecy is at an end. Before our fated final duel begins, nameless one, I shall tell you the truth about my plan!"

 _Next Time: Collision Chaos_


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30: Justek Phase 8: Rebellion Against the Universe**

The nameless being blinked a couple of times and commented "You know, with all that's been going on I never really thought about that. What is your plan, Justek? Why is even the point of you threatening the entire universe with these black holes?" Justek hung his head a little bit and commented "As I told Kairi, my goal here is not to threaten the universe…The act of being a threat was just part of the true plan I have in mind. With the memories of your two selves merged into one body, I would assume you can recall some details about the 'higher-ups', correct?"

The nameless being nodded their head and commented "Yeah, what about them?" Justek went on to say in great detail "My entire goal, at the end of the day, is for the complete and utter end of the 'higher-ups'. And all these black holes I have summoned are a key factor in my plan." The nameless being paused for a moment and with a suspecting raise of his eyebrows he turned a bit and commented "Tell me then…How are these things connected?"

Justek glanced over his right shoulder and gestured a wing towards the black hole that was still spinning wildly outside the ship, commenting in a calm an explanative tone "The nature of the 'higher-ups' are to be governors of the multiverse itself…The watch over all possibilities and decide which timelines deserve to live and which ones deserve to die based on what they want to happen. Anything that threatens the universe is usually dealt with by the 'higher-ups' unless they want it to happen in order to keep their twisted ideal of balance intact."

Justek looked back at the nameless being and remarked "The original Elemental Overlord and the Dark King were used by the 'higher-ups' in order to help maintain that balance, but many others were dragged into their machinations whether they knew it or not. To ensure the best possible level of control over their puppets, the 'higher-ups' coined the term 'false omnipotents'…Any being with that term attached to them becomes completely subservient to their will, but only if the being in question has close to godly levels of power. Even the strongest beings out there, like The Living Tribunal, Darkseid, and Featherine…None of them are safe from this term of theirs."

"But you may be thinking…If such a term allows them absolute control over the strongest in all of the universes, then why am I a threat to their goals? Because, my nameless opponent, I am a monster above all others…I am not a 'false omnipotent'. The 'higher-ups' have no control over my actions, which is why they were so desperate to single out this variation of Alex Whiter, who was the only one to become the Phoenix of Destruction before the timeline splits created more of him beyond that point. Because without the Phoenix of Destruction around, I would never have been freed."

"How does this relate to the black holes though?" The nameless being inquired, leading to Justek chuckling a bit and stating "Because, my nameless opponent…Since the 'higher-ups' are connected to the multiverse itself, the only logical way to fight them is to strike the multiverse directly. Black holes are considered a singularity in the universe's fabric of reality, a flaw if you would…And ones of considerable power at that. So tell me, what should happen if multiple black holes plagued a single universe?"

The nameless being thought about that for a bit and then looked a little surprised, which led to Justek then stating "Correct…Because of the meticulous methods of the 'higher-ups', they have left themselves quite vulnerable to these black holes, as not only have they appeared in this universe, but all other timelines where I have survived until this point. Together, the black holes have created a massive quantum singularity within the 'higher-ups' overview of the multiverse, leaving them vulnerable and unable to interfere to great effect, as any power they expend would just allow them to be weakened by the black holes I have summoned."

"You're still dragging trillions of lives into this mess, Justek! Explain why you have to do that then!" The nameless being exclaimed, and Justek raised his eyebrows a little and remarked gently "I shall gladly do so, in that case. You see, thanks to the reality bender, I was able to modify the black holes' nature enough that they can still perform their function, but also act as a safe zone of sorts for those who get swallowed into it. At the same time, now I have made certain that anyone the 'higher-ups' could have manipulated into stopping me have been cast aside, unable to interfere. Though that's not to say that some planets haven't crashed into others along the way…My methods are unfortunately not perfect in that regard."

"So your end goal is to destroy the 'higher-ups' then…" The nameless being commented gently, leading to Justek then saying "But of course…In the end, these black holes shall grow to devour the 'higher-ups' in their grasp, and the universe shall be reborn as one free of their control. Millions will die before this universe can come to fruition, unfortunately, but compared to the trillions of lives the 'higher-ups' have taken with their insanity the numbers are nowhere near comparable."

Gripping his katanas tightly, the nameless being pointed out "No lives should have to be taken. There has to be a better way to handle the 'higher-ups' than to do this, Justek." Justek immediately had a response in the form of a blunt "I can understand your concerns, but this is the only way to combat such a powerful force. You cannot fight them on the level like you would any other opponent you've tackled before now…If not this method, what else would you suggest trying?"

With a bit of a nervous grin, the nameless being said "Well I can't say that I have an idea in my head right now. It'd be ridiculous to have a solution to everything right on the spot, but surely you haven't thought of everything yourself…" Justek commented in a humored tone "Hahaha…Of course not. There may be some things out there better than this plan, but the more time you allow the 'higher-ups' to live, the lesser our odds are of stopping them for good."

"I refuse to believe for even a second that there isn't some other way better than this to defeat the 'higher-ups'. I get what you're saying Justek, and I don't want them to live as much as you do just from what you've brought up…But at the same time…" With the nameless being gripping his katanas tightly, he exclaimed to his foe "You've still dragged so many into this plan of yours! All this fear you've likely caused from these black holes, the countless lives that have and will be lost…I have to stop you Justek, your powers are too dangerous to allow to go unchecked!"

"Hahaha…! Fair enough, my nameless opponent…You have the right to stand in my way. I am, as I've said, a monster above all others. Even if the ends justify the means, that does not mean the means should not be questioned in some form…" Justek raised his head up a bit and unleashed a burst of energy from around his body that shook the universe itself, gripping his swords tightly before exclaiming "But can you stop my plans? Shall your optimism and desire to protect all in this universe truly triumph over my goals? Or are you simply fighting out of desperation at this point?"

"Desperation…? Yeah, you could say that's part of why I'm fighting. But I'm also fighting for the dreams of all people across the multiverse! No matter how hard I have to try, I will find a way to stop the 'higher-ups' myself, all without having to sacrifice a single life in return!" Radiance and darkness lashed back and forth around the nameless being's body as he gripped his katanas tightly, and the garment wrapped around his waist untied itself and glowed brightly as it laid itself on the being's body. Within seconds, the being's hair also glowed as the garment became a black and white wavy patterned trench coat that extended to the bottom of his legs, with his hair spiking up a little more as it glowed both black and white. On his back appeared a pair of wings made of stylized glowing petals, with one side consisting of black ones while the other side had only white ones.

Justek actually smiled in the face of the being's transformation into his Chaos Form, commenting loudly and proudly to him "You have but two obstacles in the way of your goals, my nameless opponent! Even if you defeat me, that doesn't necessarily mean that my black holes shall be stopped. Can even your newfound might stand against this monstrous power that defies even the puppet master of the gods themselves?!" With his voice echoing even more now, the nameless being exclaimed "I have to! There are so many out there depending on me to save them from this madness! I carry the weight of trillions upon trillions on my shoulders, all of them crying out in fear and pain, begging for sanctuary from this nightmare! I will hear them all and answer their pleas, and I WILL save them all Justek! Just you wait and see!"

"Then come, and let us fight our glorious battle!" Justek exclaimed before swinging his right sword out in front of him really quickly and creating a massive gash capable of unleashing hundreds of sharp lasers at his foe. The nameless being swings his swords out at such a rapid rate that his arms and blades could not be seen, and he knocks all the lasers away, causing them to collide with differing parts of the battlefield before they broke apart and made shattering sounds while the being charged forward at Justek and leaped into the air right in front of him, stabbing his silver katana forward and leaving dust-like streams of energy in his wake as he rapidly struck Justek in his chest.

Justek responded by swinging his sword down in front of him to fend the being off, who leaped back and skidded along the ground, levitating his katanas around in front of his extended palms in order to spin them and deflect the many lasers Justek sent his way through his vortexes. The being spun his body around to handle lasers that were coming in other directions, moving his arms around in a blur to keep his blades moving as well. Once he saw a good enough break in the lasers, the being gripped back down on the handles of his katanas and swung them both hard against the air, shaking the atmosphere along the path he cut as he launched gigantic waves of light and darkness at Justek.

Justek held his swords in front of him to block the attacks and then swung them out to send a gigantic flaming 'X' at his foe, who flips forward over the center of it and holds his katanas out, hovering in mid-air for a moment as Justek then ran forward with both of his swords in the middle of a massive swing out beside his body. The nameless being held his katanas in front of him and created a thick barrier of light that Justek shattered through with his blades, but because the being was not thrown back thanks to the barrier absorbing the force of the attack he was able to spin around and drop down while cutting at Justek's chest with the tips of both katanas.

Once the nameless being was on the ground he went around Justek's legs and tried to cut at them, but Justek used his vortexes to prevent him from connecting his attacks. The being then leaped back and flipped around a couple of times, spinning his swords around rapidly to deflect the multitude of lasers Justek fires at him through his vortexes. Once on his feet the nameless being swings his right sword in front of him to absorb some of the lasers and then swung his blade out to send a slicing crescent towards Justek's legs.

As Justek summons a gap to swallow the energy, the nameless being dug his katanas into the ground and sprinted forward while creating trails of black and white fire behind him. He then ignited his blades with those flames and leaped at Justek, swiping at the front of his body with both blades as the man raised one of his swords and blocked both attacks despite how long the slashes were, and Justek then hit his foe by smacking him with the blunt end of his blade. The nameless being fans the flames on his trench coat with the wind from the swings of his blades and then lands on the ground.

After lifting his right leg back and kicking the tip of his black katana, the nameless being grinned a little and then pointed the silver katana at Justek, and after a halo-like glimmer appeared around the blade a volley of tiny sparks of light flew out across the air and targeted Justek. These sparks moved so fast that Justek didn't have enough time to set up a large enough vortex to stop them all. So instead he simply charged forward, ramming through the exploding sparks as his body was consumed by burst of light, and with flames shooting out from both sides of his mouth he waited until after he forced the being to the air with a sword swing in order to fire off a beam of fire from his mouth.

The nameless swung his black katana up as hard as he could and sliced the beam in two by keeping up a continuous slash of darkness up until Justek tired of the flames and summoned forth a cage of vortexes around his foe that sent forth swords made of solid energy out. The nameless being was a little pressed this time around as he had to not only use his katanas to hold back a couple swords, but expend energy and focus into holding back the other blades as well. Justek then leaped off the ground and brought both of his swords down towards his foe, forcing him to expend a ton of light and darkness into creating a gigantic sphere that's able to absorb enough of the force from Justek's swords and get him pushed back away from the vortexes.

As Justek lands on the ground he bends forward and spreads his wings before releasing hundreds of sharp bullets of energy towards his foe's barrier, but each bullet only rippled on the front of the barrier for a few seconds until the nameless being shattered the barrier and sent the shards of energy out to counter Justek's bullets, and as all of them filled the air with tiny flashes the nameless being flew forward and clashed swords with Justek for a few seconds. Justek was able to keep up with the speed of those swings until his foe stabbed both of his blades forward hard enough to push Justek back a few feet.

Justek then remarked "This power of yours is quite incredible…" before swinging his sword up and releasing a hard pillar of flames towards his foe, who flies around and barely grazes it while swinging his swords out and preparing to pincer them both at Justek's left wing, who spins his body to the right in order dodge the obvious attack. But the nameless being simply turns around and swings his katanas upward before Justek can bring a sword down upon him. After one flip, the being lands on the ground and skids back before responding with "It's the union of our ideals! The strength of our spirits combined into one being!"

The being swings his right sword out beside himself and takes a stance, charging up energy a little bit before sheathing his katanas into pockets on his trench coat and remarking "Now I will try to fight without my weapons for a bit!" The being then leaped at Justek, who remarked dryly "Playing with me a bit now are you? Can you really afford such pleasantries?" Before swinging his sword up to attack his brave opponent. His foe then swung his right fist out while it was coated in darkness, and he hit the sword so hard that he managed to break a piece of it right off while releasing a shockwave that rippled the atmosphere.

Justek widened his eyes a little bit and then drew his sword back, choosing to counter his foe's next punch by making him fly through a vortex as he attempts to go for his chest. This makes the nameless being appear above the ground and punch it while putting him in the line of one of Justek's fire blasts. With his eyes widened a bit in surprise, the nameless being spins his body around and thrusts his left hand out to catch the front of Justek's beam, and the force from the attack pushed him back and caused the skin on his right palm to burn up from friction a little.

"Ow, ow, ow…!" The being remarks casually before he quickly kicked his legs forward, spinning enough so he could kick the front of Justek's beam with both legs and knock it towards the ceiling. The energy strikes it and rains down as tiny embers afterwards, and the nameless being charges at Justek once more. Once the embers were down far enough, Justek made them explode to throw his foe off a little bit, forcing him to bob and weave around the edges of the explosions, even pulling his body back a couple of times just to be safe.

When he was right in front of Justek, the man was already grinding the tip of his right sword along the ground to send out a wave of flame to cut his foe off a little bit. The nameless being slides underneath the attack and then used some flames from his hands to push himself upward and kick Justek right in his chin, repeatedly striking him to knock his gargantuan body off the ground, though Justek quickly flies back into a vortex to escape the attacks.

The nameless being spins around and floats upright, cracking his knuckles as he waits to figure out where Justek will emerge from. The moment he senses a disturbance in the air he turns around and immediately has to duck before Justek's sword strikes him. Justek then sends the other sword out behind his opponent, forcing him to launch higher into the air with a burst of white and black flames before he's cut through. As both swords go into other vortexes, the nameless being notes this and then is forced to spin his body around rapidly like a tornado as Justek opens vortexes and sends out exploding spheres of energy.

By deflecting them, the explosions fill the air with the nameless being in the center of them all, and he stops spinning as Justek comes out through a vortex behind his foe with his swords being thrown into his grasp. He crosses his swords in front of him and nearly cuts his foe, but he turns around and releases a shockwave of energy to push himself away from the blades. Then he punches the air a couple of times to send heavy bullets of darkness that strike Justek's blades and cracked them a little bit.

As the explosions die down, the nameless being shakes his right fist a little bit as smoke came off of them and then grinned a little at Justek, who raised an eyebrow a little. His foe then swung his hands out rapidly and broke through the fabric of reality to send spheres of light and darkness through them, followed by him then snapping his fingers in front of his chest to create a black flame around his fist. Pulling back on his fist a little, the nameless being then lunged at Justek in a sudden burst of speed and punched Justek across the face.

All of a sudden the being warped out of the general area and then reappeared lunging out of another part of the air with a ring of black fire erupting out, which increased his speed and allowed him to quickly punch Justek in the face again. Justek then quickly realized as his foe vanished that he was using the energy he threw away to accelerate himself, so Justek quickly put an end to those efforts by spinning his body around and slicing through the dimensions with his blades to reveal all of the spheres his foe had set up.

But the nameless being just said in an obviously fake tone of surprise "Oh no!" before suddenly snapping away from the spheres and with a wave of his right hand out sending all of them straight at Justek, who quickly summoned forth enough vortexes to stop them from touching him. Though his foe then just had to slip through the gap between the vortexes and rapidly pound him in the chest with his open palms, releasing bursts of energy which each impact and eventually causing a crack to echo from Justek's rib cage.

After kicking himself back, the nameless being commented "Wish I could've used that attack a little better than that…" Justek said in a relaxed tone "It was not a bad tactic for sure, but one I would not easily fall for." The nameless being nodded his head in agreement and then lunged at Justek again, but this time he dropped to the ground before Justek could hit him with his sword and went for an uppercut towards his chest. Justek created a vortex to throw his foe into, but the nameless being just stuck within the realm that Justek had thrown him into and moved around to try emerging from another part of the area.

Justek intercepted his flight with some lasers through this other dimension, and the nameless being took a couple of hits that singed his trench coat and parts of his arms. But he nevertheless pushes out of this dimension with a punch and ends up behind Justek, turning around and pulling back on his right fist to draw forth an arrow of light that he then punches right at Justek, which hit's the back of his neck and causes him the flinch. Though his concentration isn't broken enough to stop him from sending forth a series of vortexes that stopped him from using more arrows to strike other parts of his body.

The nameless being then swings his arms out and creates two fancy bowcasters made of light beside himself, rapidly sending out bolts of energy as the weapons zip around his body. They deal minimal damage to Justek's body, clipping off maybe a couple of scales whenever Justek doesn't use miniature vortexes to swallow the attacks up. The nameless being focuses more on Justek's blades now, quickly flying towards the right one and punching it hard in the cracks that he put there earlier, but Justek swings his sword to the right to meet the force of the punch and repel the nameless being back. But his foe then grabbed both bowcasters and charged energy to fire off large bolts of spiraling light from the tips, striking the cracks on Justek's blade to cast aside the flames on them and deepen the cracks. The swords were pretty thick though, so it would still take some time to break them.

The nameless being shattered the bowcasters and grabbed onto his katanas, drawing them once more and slamming them against each other, causing them to glow and fuse together into a twelve-foot long katana with a perfectly chrome blade, the handle made of gilded emeralds. The being grabbed the katana in both hands and then swung it out in one stroke, sending out multiple slicing streams of both light and darkness that forces Justek to swing his body around and raise his other sword to block all of the attacks.

Justek then swung his sword down and with a gleam in his eyes he suddenly opened a series of vortexes and released a string of explosions upon his foe, which caught him off-guard for a moment as he took some damage from the attacks, though his position doesn't change and thus allows him to leap out of the smoke from the explosion, dodging a stab attempt from Justek's blade by flipping over it, and once over Justek's backside he stabs his elongated katana downward to rapidly attack the open parts of his skin thanks to the earlier bowcaster shots.

The impacts were rough enough to make the blood spurt out from Justek's body, but he quickly folds his wings inward and covers them in energy to provide enough protection from his foe's attacks. The nameless being pulls back on his blade and then flips back onto the ground, cautiously holding onto his weapon as Justek glances over his shoulder and extends his wings out, which had been bloodied from the leakage on his back. He then seemed to smile a little and said "So it seems you have a bit more variety with your moves…"

"I am trying not to overdo it with this power…I can't make the same mistake as before with burning myself out." The nameless being commented nonchalantly, and Justek chuckled a bit and remarked "You need to start using a little more of it then…These are nothing but minor wounds to a mighty Wyvern." "Hmm…" The nameless being hummed a little before suspecting that Justek was luring him into a trap, though the risk of using more power was tempting.

Instead he just leaps at Justek, who turns and swings both of his swords out, though the nameless being thrusts his katana down and uses it as a pole to hold himself in place while the swords swings on by in front of him, kicking up air that knocks the katana down as the nameless being vaults off of the handle and then brings both of his fists down on top of Justek's head, applying so much force through his body that Justek almost loses his balance and falls forward onto the ground. Justek growls a little and pushes his head up to fight against his foe's strength, eventually forcing him to flip away.

He then kicks the back of the handle of his katana and grabs it in his right hand, gliding his left fingers across the blade and igniting it with light and darkness combined. He then swings the katana towards the ground, lashing off energy from it so they would erupt into pillars of energy that Justek speeds around the arena to get away from, all the while the monster swings his swords out and sends off waves of flames at his foe, forcing him to use the energy in his katana to create pillars in order to swallow up the flames.

Justek then surprised his foe by slamming both of HIS blades together, creating an explosion of flames as the blades merge into a titanic claymore that reaches halfway towards the ceiling, basking the arena in a deathly dark blue light while the nameless being floats there in awe and remarks "…I'm going to need a bigger sword than this…" Before suddenly raising his katana up above his head and doing exactly that, pushing as much light and darkness he could into creating a katana just as tall as Justek's claymore, which had a pair of feathery wings near the top of the handle that countered the light from Justek's flames.

After a momentary pause, both fighters swung their swords forward and clashed them together, grinding the energies apart with all the force they attempted to apply into their attack. Both fighters grunted heavily as the sounds of their weapons clashing filled the air, and sparks scattered across the air for many feet on end. It didn't take very long for both fighters to have their weapons shatter, showing that they were equally matched in power. The fragments of energy fell across the ground as embers, and the nameless being held both of his katanas again while Justek held his giant swords once more.

"So we are evenly matched…" The nameless being commented, and Justek waved his tail around a little and responded with "Then that means you might need to use that Genesis Form to defeat me, is that what you are saying?" The nameless being shook his head a little and then clenched his katanas tightly, remarking as even more light and darkness surged around his body and his hair spiked up a little more "Now this just means I have to stop using only fifty percent of my power here!"

Justek could feel the power rising within his foe, and it was quite a difference. The nameless being, for certain, was now stronger than Justek could be in this form, with none of the weaknesses and restraints that Riku had while in his Genesis Form. This perfect union of two Elemental Overlords was just enough to defeat Justek, and the nameless being remarked "Now I'm using seventy-five of my power! Get ready Justek, this ends now!" Justek smiled a little bit with what remained of his beastly fangs, and after some chuckling he said "Thank you, my nameless foe, for providing me with the fight of my life!"

 _Next Time: Legacy's End_


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31: Justek Phase 9: The Broken Fate**

" _H-H-Hey…? What are you doing out here in the wasteland?" A barely adolescent boy awkwardly inquired as he stood in the middle of a dry and cracked stony region while he looks up at someone standing on a short hill, who was wearing a tattered beige cape over his shoulders and had a bit of dirt on his face. He wore a nice grey t-shirt and black jeans, and his hair was short and simple with some light brown coloring to it. The person looked to be roughly the same age as the boy who approached him, and he glanced his head to look at him with a simple, naïve smile on his face._

" _Well howdy there!" The boy said enthusiastically before he suddenly leaped off the hill and landed in front of the other boy, stumbling a tiny bit with some forced surprise in his voice while the other boy widened his eyes and took a cautious step back. The other boy wore a pair of ruby rimmed glasses, had long black hair that reached to his shoulders, and he wore a fancy robe with a chain around his waist and a pair of blue jeans underneath. The stranger smiled to this boy and looked at him with a slightly lowered and tilted head, asking him politely "So where are you from?"_

 _The boy nervously glanced to the left and was visibly trembling, and so the other boy backed up a bit and said "Sorry about that, I can leave you alone if you're too shy to talk." "T-That's not it…I'm just not used to seeing outsiders." The timid boy said, getting slowly quieter to the point that the person he was talking to had to lean in a bit to hear what he had said. Afterwards, the stranger remarks while rubbing the back of his head "Outsiders? …Oh! I think I get it now!"_

 _The stranger suddenly snapping his fingers threw the boy off for a moment, and the stranger pointed at the boy and remarked "You're from the Halfling tribes, aren't you?" The boy was surprised at the stranger's observation and with fascination in his eyes he nodded his head a little and said "T-That means you must be from the Elemental Tribes, aren't you?" The stranger held his hand out and commented "Yep! I'm from the Wind Tribe!" He demonstrated his claim by snapping his fingers, which stopped the wind from blowing his cape around._

 _The boy widened his eyes again and left his mouth agape before stating "W-Wow! I've never seen an Elemental user up close before!" The stranger smiled a bit and said "Well now you have! That means I've made your day!" The boy smiled with his eyelids shut and nodded his head, but after a momentary pause the boy suddenly flinched and glanced aside with a bit more melancholy on his face before remarking "O-Oh…But then again…"_

" _Hmmm? Is something the matter?" The boy kicked his right shoe against the ground and said "I-I…I'm sorry sir…But mommy and daddy said that it's dangerous to speak with people from the Elemental Tribes along with Aurians…You might try and manipulate me into working for you to help turn the tides against the other tribes…" The stranger blinked a couple times in the face of the boy's serious remark and then suddenly laughed, telling him casually "Now that's just silly. Why would I be trying to do that? I'm just some kid going on some crazy adventures away from home!"_

 _The way the stranger quickly responded combined with his jovial nature made the boy trust him a bit, though he still glanced aside and said "I-I guess so…But still, someone could've sent you to check out my people…" The stranger held his right hand out and remarked "What, you mean like my dad? He doesn't even know I ran out to have some adventures…At least not yet, I assume. I mean, I respect your parents' decision to not want their son to interact with others, but I'm no threat to you, am I?"_

" _W-Well…W-Well…" The boy nervously muttered, and the stranger suddenly put his right hand in front of his face and remarked enthusiastically as the surprised boy let out a gasp of shock and then stumbled back onto his rear "In fact I think we should be fr-fri…Oh, oops…" Upon realizing what happened with the boy, the stranger nervously grinned and then bent down as the boy tried to pick his glasses up, using a small gust of wind to carry the glasses back onto the boy's face. As the boy sat there and nudged the glasses back into place the rest of the way, he felt his heart beating slowly upon looking at the stranger's cheery face._

" _Sorry about surprising you, but lets try that again. My name is Sarajin Stratos…What's yours, new friend?" The stranger said with the utmost honesty, and the boy commented nervously "N-N-New friend? B-B-But…U-U-Umm…How can I be friends with someone like you? N-Not that you aren't nice…But…" Sarajin clenched his hand into a fist and said as he stood up and proudly punched his chest "Don't worry about it! I know there's some differences between our races, but right now we just need a hero to show that there can be a unison between us all! And someday I plan to be that hero!"_

 _Putting his fists against his hips, Sarajin kicks up a gale to throw his cape back and have it wave around while he proclaims "And everyone shall remember the name of the Elemental Overlord who unified all of the tribes!" The clouds above parted slightly and the sun shone down on Sarajin, causing the timid boy to look upon him with a flutter in his heart, as though he truly believed in what the stranger was saying. But even so, the boy had to point one thing out "U-Ummm…Wouldn't calling yourself an Overlord be pretty dangerous? They might think you're out to rule them all…"_

 _Sarajin's dramatic pose is quickly dropped as he cuts the gale and looks down at the boy, telling him "Huh…I guess you have a point. But until I can think of a better name I'll just stick to that." The boy then commented "M-Maybe you aren't untrustworthy…But you're really goofy…" as he stood back onto his feet and brushed the back of his robe off of any dirt. Sarajin chuckled at that comment, followed by the boy nudging his glasses up and saying "S-Still…I guess I could try and be your friend. I-I want to be able to trust you…"_

 _The boy then held his right hand out and said "M-My name is Justek…Justek Arcavira…" Sarajin held his hand out and the two shook, with Sarajin smiling and saying "I'm glad I met you Justek! Actually, truth be told, you're my first real friend outside of the tribes, so I hope I can keep it that way forever and ever!" Justek nodded his head, and with a bit of a smile he said "Y-Yeah…But we can only live so long you know…?"_

The last of Justek's memory of that moment was spent hearing the echoes of Sarajin's humored laugh afterwards. He was then attacked by his nameless foe, who broke past the defenses his swords attempted to bring by speeding past them and slicing across his chest with both katanas. Justek stumbled back and tried to escape through a vortex, but the nameless being drew out a couple of chains of light and darkness and grabbed Justek by his arms to tug him away from the vortex. Justek's thoughts, however, were focused away from the battle as he spun his swords around to slice through the chains.

" _To remember those times now…With all the futures I have seen and memorized my own past seems like such a small, small speck within my mind. But it seems I can never forget our first meeting, Sarajin…It was a day where our lives all changed forever, and we were drawn into a universe of dangers and perils we could never have imagined existing while we so young…"_ Justek lets out a roar and then sprints forward, raising his right sword up as the nameless being lashes both of his katanas out in front of him to send forth dozens of waves of energy that cut at Justek's hand so hard that it forces him to drop his sword before he could swing it.

Justek smacks the handle of his sword as it falls to flip it around so it would fall towards his foe, especially as he opens a black hole to create a vacuum strong enough to speed it's descent. The nameless being speeds forward before he got pulled into the vacuum and punched Justek rapidly in the chest with the handles of his katanas, shockwaves erupting out from each impact that shook the atmosphere as Justek was constantly pushed back from the force applied to each blow. Justek swings his head down and chomps onto one of his foe's fists to stop him, but the nameless being releases a burst of energy within his mouth to force him to let go.

Smoke rose out from the sides of Justek's mouth as he charged energy within and blasted his foe straight ahead, though the nameless being raised a barrier of energy around himself and then pushed forward, ramming Justek in the front of his face so hard that his nostrils bled as he was forced to reel back. As the nameless being pulled back, he dropped the energy and crossed his katanas in front of his face before brightening them with energies from both light and darkness, all the while Justek stepped back and thought to himself _"And to think that you actually managed to convince my parents to let me see the other Elemental Tribes for myself…Hahahaha…The look on their faces was priceless."_

" _My horizons were opened so much because of that…I saw things and places that I never would have been able to otherwise had I not chosen to accept your offer of friendship. Truly, one must wonder how our lives would have gone had I not met you, Sarajin…"_ Justek then swung his right sword out after drawing it out of a vortex to block a hundred swipes from his foe, though those swipes were just a distraction so the nameless being could quickly fly under the sword and perform a heavy slash across Justek's chest with both blades.

As blood leaked from Justek's chest, he chuckled a little and then thought to himself some more _"I saw so much from your tribes…The way the elements worked, how the tribes were built to best fit each element, and the way the people behaved in relation to other tribes…And then there was the day you decided to take me to visit the Aurians…"_ As Justek panted a little bit from the pain building up in his body, he was once more thrown into visions of the past as the nameless being attacked his legs.

 _It was a year after Justek and Sarajin had met, and they were right in the middle of the Sancturia of the past…Which honestly still didn't look that different then it does now. The lack of a mall for Earth based commodities did mean though that the people were wearing more fancy clothing, like sparkling robes and jewelry on their hands. With his cape now replaced with a simple wool poncho, Sarajin looked like a hobo, especially compared to the stuff the Aurians were wearing. Justek looked around and remarked "W-Wow…This place is so beautiful…!"_

 _Sarajin glanced over his shoulder and said "Justek I know you're happy to be here, but we shouldn't try and draw too much attention to ourselves. The Aurians are already giving us snooty looks for our appearances." Justek widened his eyes and displaced his glasses because of it, and as he nudged it back into place he said quietly "S-Sorry Sarajin…But not even the Electric Tribe looked this fancy." As Justek looked around for a bit, Sarajin reached into a pocket on his poncho and pulled out a scroll, unfurling it and looking it over while Justek peeked over his shoulder._

" _So remind me again why we're here?" Justek inquired, and Sarajin looked at him and said "I got this letter from some girl claiming to be the princess of the Aurians. She said she wanted to meet up somewhere around here…" Justek reeled back and with an eyebrow raised he remarked "Oh…So this is something akin to a date?"_

" _I'd hope not…I don't think I could handle a woman around my age. I mean I'm only 15, and according to dad that's around the time 'women become raging hurricanes'…Of course he could just be exaggerating. But that's why you're here!" Sarajin remarked nonchalantly, while Justek said "To protect you?" "No, to stop me from saying anything incredibly stupid. Last thing I want to do is piss off the Aurians' princess…" Sarajin remarked before putting the scroll away and looking on ahead._

 _After a moment of looking around, he pointed towards a pyramid-like temple in the distance and said "That's the spot! Lets go Justek!" And at that moment Sarajin hid his hands behind his poncho and sprinted forward, with Justek remarking dryly "And you told me not to be conspicuous…" He then followed as fast as he could, meeting his friend at the front of the temple with a bit of a tired pant coming out as he stopped. Sarajin looked around for a bit until an absolutely prissy and regal voice comes calling out to him "So you must be the one father was speaking of…"_

 _Sarajin and Justek turned to the left and Justek in particular was immediately struck with a blush on his face as a girl his age comes walking up to the two of them. The girl wore a fancy neon colored gown with frills on the bottom and around the sleeves, a loose diamond necklace, a pair of gold clip-on earrings, and her turquoise hair was kept held back in a wide braided ponytail that extended to her hips. The girl had noticeable curves for her age thanks to her gown showing them off, and an absolutely relaxed demeanor befitting her royalty. As the girl looked at the two boys with her glistening eyes, they were both pretty unaware of the massive, muscular guy wearing samurai armor behind her._

… _That is to say, until the man spoke up firmly with "You boys better not be thinking of anything dirty." The young Auris immediately lowered her eyelids in annoyance and said angrily as the boys looked a bit frightened "Honestly Gabriel, the only reason you're even here is because I agreed to it so long as you wouldn't tell father! So don't push your luck with your overprotective nature." Gabriel then flinched a little and said "…I am just trying to do my job, Lady Auris."_

" _Hmph…!" Auris remarked before lifting her head up a little and saying to the boys in front of her "Well I was hoping to have a proper introduction, but this muscle-headed dope of a bodyguard ruined it, so whatever…" After rolling her eyes, Auris looked at Sarajin in particular and remarked with her eyebrows raised "So is it true what my father and his colleagues say? That you have already mastered an element outside of your own tribe?"_

 _Sarajin nodded his head and then raised his right hand up, and with a snap of the fingers he caused a rose to grow in his hand and casually held it in front of himself towards Auris while bowing a little. Auris sarcastically remarked "Cute…" She then nevertheless swiped the rose from Sarajin's hand and looked it over, with Gabriel commenting "It's certainly a perfect looking rose…It seems the rumors of a boy learning how to use the other elements is true then."_

 _Auris remarked after casually tossing the rose over her shoulder "But just nature so far? …What a rather weak element to choose…" Sarajin raised his right hand up while folding the left behind his back, remarking gently "Actually, I've learned how to use electricity as well, but I'd rather not show that off considering I haven't really mastered it." Auris raised her eyebrows a bit and said "Hmph, I suppose I am a tiny bit impressed…But learn all the elements you want, they shall never triumph the strength of an Aurian!"_

 _Sarajin grinned and said "Well I'm not trying to surpass anyone. I just want to show that it's possible for the elemental tribes to live together in harmony, and for that reason I shall learn how to use every element and become the Elemental Overlord!" As Sarajin swings his arms out and boldly proclaims that, Auris suddenly goes wide-eyed and remarks "Oh sweet merciful god I take back what I said before…You aren't impressive, you are simply retarded!"_

 _Justek finally lets out a sigh and says "I tried to tell him to change the name but he seems fond of it…" Sarajin remarks while awkwardly glancing to the left "I-I told you I'll figure something out someday!" Auris glances at Justek and asks of him bluntly "Now come to think of it, just who are you supposed to be?" Justek's heart skipped a bit as he suddenly started looking around awkwardly and remarked "U-U-Ummm…I-I'm Justek Arcavira…"_

" _Ah yes, I heard of a Justek as well…You're a Halfling. Hmph…You are quite brave to come here, what with father's interest in your people. But I suppose while you're with me, the Aurian ninjas won't attempt to kidnap you." Sarajin immediately exclaimed excitedly "Ninjas?! You have ninjas?!" Auris glances at Sarajin as he goes on to pull his head back and say in an overly jovial tone "Fancy clothes, ninjas, and a beautiful princess! You Aurians have it all here!"_

 _Auris' right eyebrow noticeably twitches upon hearing that last part, and with half a smirk she says "Beautiful, eh? So you immediately have the hots for me? That's rather bold of you…!" Sarajin said while looking at Auris "I'm just having a little fun, don't put that much weight into what I said." Justek immediately widened his eyes upon hearing that, and Auris' anger became a little more clear as she said "Oh, not much weight, eh? So you DON'T think I am beautiful? You must truly be bold to say such things…!"_

 _Auris pulled up her right sleeve and flexed her muscles, grinning angrily while Sarajin just blinked a couple times blankly and said in a humored tone "Oh…So this is what father meant by a 'hurricane'…" Before Auris threw a punch at Sarajin, Justek suddenly stepped between them and swung his arms out while proclaiming "WAIT A SECOND! I HAVE A JOKE I WANT TO SAY!" Auris widened her eyes in disbelief and kept her posture for a moment while Gabriel cautiously observes the situation._

 _Justek struggles to look Auris in the eyes while saying to her "W-What do you call a Halfling who asks a lot of q-q-questions? A-A…A WHY-vern." There was a brief pause for a moment, and it seemed like that joke was not going to be enough to quell Auris' anger. But then she puffed her cheeks and let out a snort through her nostrils, wrapping her arms around the front of her stomach and letting out some genuine laughter as she keeled over a bit, while Justek blinked a little bit and said "I-I was actually that funny…?"_

 _Auris lifted her head up and after wiping a bit of tears from her face she commented while trying to stay relaxed "Y-Yes…Verily…Hehehe…" Auris then looked at Justek and said with a smile on her face "You are quite brave if not foolish, Halfling. What is your name?"_

Back in the present, Justek was bleeding from the mouth and his wings were sliced up a lot, and the nameless being stood before him and swung his katanas around while looking completely unharmed. Justek thought to himself as he panted _"That was the first time I ever saw you smile, Lady Auris…The years afterwards felt like such a blur. I saw Sarajin train through the rest of the elements, I met the Dark King through his origins, my people were slaughtered…The Anti-Genesis Theorem. And afterwards you never had a genuine smile on your face, Lady Auris…"_

Justek lifted his head up as the nameless being remarked "You can stop this madness at any time Justek! Reverse the black hole!" Justek just smiled a bit but then focused more on his memories as he thought to himself _"And I am mostly to blame for those false smiles…I could have stopped Damascus' rise to power…I could have ended the Dark King…But I did not…My goals were the only thing that I focused on, because in the end I truly missed those days of old where we laughed and had fun."_

The nameless being grimaced a little bit and gripped his katanas tightly, while Justek continued to be buried in his thoughts _"That is why the 'higher-ups' must perish…They are the last three people who had ruined our lives. The Ten Sages are dead…The Dark King is gone…'D.' has finally been banished…If those 'higher-ups' are gone, then perhaps you could smile again Lady Auris…And Sarajin my dear friend…You can finally rest in peace."_ "You've become quiet all of a sudden, Justek…What're you planning?" The nameless being remarked as he slowly began to approach his foe.

" _Hehehe…But I suppose there's one thing I am still overlooking, aren't I old friend?"_ Justek thought before he once again found his mind going back to the past.

 _Now, Justek stood in his Wyvern form before Sarajin, who was now grown up with roughly the same type of clothes, but without a cape of poncho and a more mature face. In the middle of a ring of black fire on a rock high above the planet's surface the two stood, with Auris lying on the ground bleed profusely as her body heals due to the Anti-Genesis Theorem. She trembled in fear as a broken stone lies in the middle of the blood dripping from her face, and Justek stands over her glaring down at his old friend._

 _Sarajin looked calmly at his friend and said with his right hand held out "There…We're away from the others. Justek, please tell me why you're doing this. Why have you declared war on us? Why would you make the conscious decision to attack your friends?" Justek chuckled a little and gently said "I stand before your wife triumphant in battle and you would rather mince words with me, old friend?" Sarajin commented "If you truly wanted to get me angry, you would have killed her. But you and I both know you never would've done that, and even if you would I would have stopped that from happening and we still would be talking."_

 _Sarajin looked at Auris and said with a smile on his face "Still though…Sorry I didn't jump in sooner. But that was pretty reckless yourself to go in like that dear." Auris suddenly stuttered out to her husband "S-Sarajin…Y-You need someone else here…J-Justek is too powerful…" Sarajin nodded his head affirmatively and then looked at Justek to tell him "I know what you want to do now Justek. So go ahead before we continue."_

 _Justek nodded his head and then threw Auris into a vortex while she had a look of surprise onto her face, and Justek commented afterwards "She's now back on the ground…So my dear old friend, will you fight me now and put an end to this bloody battle?" Sarajin shook his head and said "I refuse. You remember that promise I made all those years ago? That we would be friends forever and ever? I still intend to keep it, regardless of your actions here today."_

 _Sarajin said this with the utmost seriousness in his voice, but Justek took it as a joke and laughed before stating "Please…I have attacked all the tribes. There is no path for me but death, and only you and the Dark King are truly strong enough to end me. So what shall it be my dear friend? I give you no other options here…" Sarajin waved his right arm out and said "Except to bring you back safely, right?"_

" _Hah! A monster has no home to return to…They have nothing but the ability to destroy all in their path! Either end my life, or watch as my Vortexians burn down everything you hold dear!" Justek exclaimed, and Sarajin raised his voice as well and remarked proudly "I refuse! I'm not going to let you go Justek! You're my best friend, and no matter what you say to me I will not break our bond! So like it or not, you're coming back with me!"_

Back in the present, Justek thought to himself _"Heh…And you did bring my unconscious body back…But then you had no choice but to seal me away instead of allowing the Ten Sages to kill me. You valued our friendship so much that you wanted to find a way to make yourself immortal so you could join me and your wife together…An effort the Dark King's pride and lust ruined prematurely. But I wish you would have just killed me instead…"_

Justek looked at his nameless foe and finally decided to speak, saying to him "Hehehe…I must admit, even expecting this outcome does little to soften the blow…However, I still believe above all else that I cannot let go of my goals. The 'higher-ups' must perish…If you defeat me, so be it, that is what fate decides…" Justek suddenly raised his right claw up and pointed at the nameless being while exclaiming "But I shall not go just that easily!"

All of a sudden, time and space warps around the nameless being before he's suddenly dragged into a vortex, with Justek creating other types of holes in the fabric of reality to swallow the previous one, like wormholes, black holes, all of these creating an incredibly violent singularity in the middle of the arena. Justek then slams both of his swords against the ground to break the stone off and reveal two triangular orichalcum blades, and he rushes at the singularity at blinding speeds and slices through it repeatedly for a few seconds.

Justek then combines both swords into one long one and delivers one powerful slash through the singularity that rips a massive rift into time and space as the singularity comes apart at the seams, with Justek exclaiming as he slides away from it "Savage Vortex Breaker!" His swords return to their original shape as he turns around, but his nameless being has already leaped out from the widening rift with his katana combined again, looking just a little more roughed up from such a powerful attack.

Justek stands in place looking wide-eyed, thinking to himself as he laughed _"Yes…Perhaps these two shall carry on your legacy well, Sarajin…"_ He then closed his eyelids as his nameless foe dropped down and sliced right down the center of his body, landing on the ground with enough force to sending Justek flying back close to the northern edge of the area. Justek's body was ripped right open down the chest and he began bleeding quite a bit, and after a moment of standing still he lowers his head and opens his eyelids while his swords drop from his claws.

Justek grinned a little bit and said "To best even my strongest attack…Speaks volumes of the power you wield now. Admittedly, my strength has been drained a lot from those years in that cage, but let that not dampen your efforts…You have both come far, and for that I could not be happier even if these goals might end up coming to an end here…" Justek lifted his head up slightly and held his claws out while the nameless being said gently in surprise "Justek…"

"Children of man…Congratulations! But you are but halfway towards victory…If you truly wish to reclaim the universe you want to protect, then stop my black hole! Other than that, I shall take my defeat with grace, and you shall have the honor of knowing that we will never meet again…" Justek then suddenly opens up a vortex behind him, his body giving in as he falls into that while the nameless being widens his eyes in surprise and runs forth, but does not make it in time as Justek throws himself into his own black hole beyond the protection of the arena.

The nameless being then stands there at the edge of the arena, looking out as the black hole continues to roar. He wondered what was on Justek's mind as he lived his final moment out, and just why his behavior was so contradictory. But these thoughts could only last a moment…Justek made his point clear. Sheathing his katanas, the nameless being held his hands up in front of himself and knew there was only one way to stop this. To save all things in this universe, he would have to reverse this black hole…

 _Next Time: The Final Push_


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32: Justek Final Phase: To Protect the Universe We Love**

Standing at the edge of the arena, the nameless being holds his hands up towards the black hole beyond the expanse of the ship. "Justek is gone…I'm the only one left who can stop this black hole…" The being said quietly, his heart beating heavily against his chest as he concentrated on the black hole and summoned forth all of his might to focus on it, all the while murmuring to himself quietly "If I fail to reverse this…If I screw up even a little bit…Then we'll be the last living things in the entire universe with nowhere to go…"

The weight of trillions of lives once more was felt on his shoulders, and he gulped a bit while nervously grinning and saying to himself "N-No big deal…I can handle this, I know I can…" The nameless being focused all of his energy onto the black hole, taking in a deep breath to relax himself to the best of his ability so he would not make a single error. "It's all just like controlling the darkness…One sun-sized swirling vortex of darkness…I can do this, I have to do this…" The nameless being loathed that he was the only person who could motivate himself to fight on.

Kairi was unconscious still within that protective sphere of energy, and the Mew part of the nameless being missed hearing her voice right now when he needed it the most. He only glanced back at her for a moment before looking back at the black hole and stating "There's a promise that needs to be fulfilled…We're making it through this alive. Even the biggest of black holes won't stop me from getting this done! No more stalling, I can't hold anything back!" The nameless being then let out a roar of pure might as his energy flared up and he used all of his power in this form.

The black hole shook a tiny bit as the nameless being grabbed onto it with his control over darkness, his aura lashing out every time the black hole fought back against his power. For all his concentration at this moment, the nameless being could only slow down the rotation of the black hole at the moment. "Come on…Come on…!" The being exclaimed while pressing his feet hard against the ground and clenching his fingers slightly, commenting as he felt the black hole resisting him "Damn it, is this thing sentient?! With what Justek has done, I wouldn't put it past him to have done this…!"

"Or…Or perhaps Justek himself has become one with the black hole and is still fighting against me?" The nameless being quickly shook off that assumption before concentrating back on the black hole and remarking "No…He said I defeated him in battle. This black hole is a completely separate fight…Come on! I just have to concentrate as hard as I can't! If I give up now, everything is lost! There's no room for any doubts, no hesitations, nothing but determination and strength will get us through this mess!"

The nameless being grit his teeth as his body shone brightly and he released a pulse of light and darkness, causing the black hole's rotation to slow just a little bit more. The being could only imagine the sounds a black hole would make if there was sound in space, and the sounds that he imagined were violent roars more frightening than what any monster or demon could possibly make. The being's heart pounded against his chest even more now, and the brief hesitation he showed allowed the black hole to slip away from his grasp bit by bit.

Clenching his fists tightly again in front of him, the nameless being tried to rein in the black hole once more, and more energy lashed out from the sides of his body as he put as much effort as he could into putting the black hole down. Even with the combined strength of two Elemental Overlords in one body though, not even this black hole is able to be stopped all the way, as the nameless being recognizes that he is using his full strength in this form and even then the black hole is only being slowed, and it continues to fight back against him.

"I-Is this really not enough…? I never could have imagined something like this would be giving me this much t-trouble…!" The nameless being exclaimed as he was tugged forward along the ground, and as much as he hated to admit it he knew that he might have to go one step beyond Chaos Form. "I guess Genesis Form would be enough to stop this black hole…But at the same time what if it actually isn't? I-I could run the risk of using up all that power and be left defenseless, but what exactly are my other options?!" The nameless being exclaimed in desperation, and that doubt allowed the black hole to fight back even more than before.

The nameless being tried to stay determined and thought his options through all the way, but realized that Justek had left nothing available to him to use. If the black holes were strong enough to swallow even Pluto from here, then there was no safe spot outside of this ship. Justek was brilliant to put Mr. Reality on Mercury for Riku to fight, as that meant he'd be the first to go when the black hole appeared, and the death of Alex Whiter meant the Gaia Temporis could not fix this situation either. It was all planned out perfectly so it'd be one person against this black hole…In other words, Justek was very likely going to win here even if he was defeated in battle.

The death of the 'higher-ups' was beneficial to the whole universe from the sounds of things, but the nameless being would never be able to stomach the loss of the millions of lives it would take to make this possible. But if there were no other options except the slight chance that the Genesis Form would be strong enough to prevail, then how exactly could Justek's plans be stopped? The nameless being was starting to give up hope, as he was going to fail everyone that both of his halves had ever met, and all others that existed in this universe beyond them.

As the nameless being squinted his eyelids and grimaced in agony, a voice suddenly called to him from behind and said "I hope you aren't planning on giving up, replicas of Whiter…! I've known him too long to expect you idiots to give up even now!" The nameless being looked behind him and was shocked to see Joe Dark of all people standing a fair distance away from him, limping slightly forward with a grin on his face of pure madness. "W-What?! What the hell are you doing here? HOW are you here?!"

Joe Dark lifted his head up a bit and took a step forward, putting his hands into his pockets and remarking "That damn Justek is to blame…Him and his lackey Gravitus. I was dragged in front of Justek and then after he spouted some bullshit he mind-controlled me with those strange eyes of his…I barely could tell what was going on, short of Whiter showing up and nearly beating me to death. Hehehehe…I knew he was truly untrustworthy, and to have that confirmed by his dive into insanity is the only good thing that has happened to me recently."

Joe Dark lowered his head a little bit and chuckled while the nameless being continued to stare at him cautiously, and after a few seconds Joe Dark raised a hand to the side of his head and said "I spent almost half of my life trying to rob Whiter of his ill-deserved existence of happiness…And in one day that bastard Justek comes and takes that one joy away from me. What gave him the right to impede on my goals like that? And now what do I have to show for this? Watching as the universe is thrown away into this damn black hole of his…"

"Hahahaha…!" Joe Dark let out a chilling laugh as he pulled his hand away from his face and held it limply beside his body, and as he glared at the nameless being with his red eyes glistening he told him "Could I ever have imagine all those years ago that I would lose my family? Did I ever imagine that I would have all this power and yet accomplish nothing? Did I expect to die so young and then come back to life? All I ever expected was to enjoy the loving embrace of my parents and live a normal life…I never wanted to be dragged into any of this!"

"It's all because of Whiter…He had been such a blight on this world, and now that he's gone I have no purpose to speak of! And now I can't even fathom why I focused all of my hatred on him in the first place! It's itching at me, like I should know why I hate him in particular so much as the cause of all my problems, but I just can't figure it out! Graaaah!" Joe Dark was on the verge of pure frustration, and the nameless being suspected the worst from his behavior. This was not the time for Joe Dark to be around, but if the nameless being broke his concentration away from the black hole then there'd be no turning back. Was this just another one of Justek's plans?

Joe Dark swung his right arm out and summoned forth his dagger, gripping it limply in his hand as he swerved his body around like a puppet, looking the nameless being straight in the eyes and telling him with a smile on his face "So maybe I should just let that bastard Justek get away with whatever he is planning with this black hole…Clearly you are too weak to do this, replicas…" The nameless being finally said furiously "The universe as we know it is coming to an end and you want to spend your possibly last moments trying to kill me, huh?!"

Joe Dark laughed a little at that before brandishing the dagger at the nameless being and telling him bluntly "Why shouldn't I?! If I'm going to perish, then at the very least I shall have the slightest satisfaction of knowing that I put an end to Whiter's entire bloodline before it all came to an end! And who knows…? Perhaps a new universe will be created where I'll be reborn without any of this goddamn baggage!" The nameless being said in response to that "Fine, be selfish like that if you want! But it would take me only one second to turn around and stop you!"

"Is that a second you can afford to waste, replicas? Seems to me that you need to put all of your concentration into stopping this black hole, otherwise you might not get another chance to stop it…Hehehehe, all it takes is one stab for me to end you while you are concentrating this much. So tell me replicas, what reason can you POSSIBLY give me to spare you?!" Joe Dark exclaimed desperately, and the nameless being told him bluntly "Haven't you forgotten that we spared your life twice?!"

"Yes, the alien told me about how you spared me, Riku…But his efforts were wasted. It would've been better if I had died! Don't you get it?! Everytime I could possibly know happiness, it has been taken away from me! The joy of finishing Whiter off was robbed from me multiple times by the heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom, the act of finishing off one of his replicas foiled by that demon, the feeling of not being alone robbed from me by that very same demon, and then that clone of Whiter that witch created was taken from me when we had truly formed a bond! I've given up on this damn universe and it's goddamn accursed nature, and Justek violating my mind and turning me into a damn puppet before killing Whiter himself were the final straws!"

Joe Dark's anger was quite clear and genuine, and he began to break down as he neared the end of his sentence. He was a boy suffering from absolute despair, but even so the nameless being just stared him down and told him "Well maybe I do get where you're coming from then…But there's trillions of lives at stake here! I can't let you stop me, and I WILL stop you and this black hole at the same time if I have to! I'm not going to give up, so stop me at your own damn risk, Joe Dark!"

The nameless being then turned to face the black hole and poured even more concentration to compensate for the loss he had just moments ago, and the black hole slowed just a tiny bit more. Joe Dark stared at the being with his eyes widened and commented in a tone of disbelief "Even now…You're still acting like there's a chance. Hehehe…You must seriously be joking. What does it take for any of you Whiters to give up already?!" The nameless being exclaimed "Death itself probably couldn't even stop our determination, so beats me! But you have to realize that we're never fighting alone! Everyone we've met, their bonds are always with us, always giving us strength!"

Joe Dark widened his eyes a little and said "Bonds…? Hmph…Now that you mention it, it was always those bonds I mocked Whiter for having that allowed him to triumph against me all those years ago. And it was the bond Riku had towards his brother that allowed him to push on in order to defeat me no matter the cost…" Joe Dark paused for a moment and widened his eyes some more, his mouth agape as he came to a bit of a revelation. Quietly he said to himself "I-I felt happiness when I was with the dark clone of Whiter and the alien…Because I knew I wasn't alone…So at that time…I too had a bond?"

Joe Dark suddenly grabbed the side of his head with his dagger still in his hand and growled a bit out of sheer anger as he felt something tugging on his mind, and he exclaimed suddenly "No! I cannot have seriously considered letting that bastard Justek get away with this! He dared to try and take control of me! I refuse to go along with his machinations, he has done enough to me today! You shall NOT get away with this, JUSTEK!" Joe Dark suddenly threw his dagger aside and ran forward in a burst of speed, standing beside the nameless being and swinging his arms out as he wrapped himself in darkness to change into his Dark King form, increasing his power immensely.

Joe Dark grabbed onto the black hole as well as darkness flared up around his armored body, and the nameless being looked at him with an understandably shocked expression only for Joe Dark to quickly retort with "Don't read too much into this! Even I don't know what the hell I'll do after Justek has been stopped! But for now, I refuse to let that bastard achieve victory here today! I suppose you have no objections, replicas?!" The nameless being nodded his head and then focused on ahead, stating happily "You know Joe Dark, this means you'll be helping to save the universe!"

"Hmph…! Yes, I suppose I am now that you bring that up again…" "So what changed your mind?" The nameless being quickly acquired, pretending to act oblivious to Joe Dark's intentions. Joe Dark grit his teeth a little as the black hole resisted his control a bit and said "None of your business…! Like I said, I am simply refusing to let that bastard Justek get away with his damn plans any longer! I will not be his pawn, I will never be anyone's pawn!"

"Fair enough, I won't press you anymore on this. But still, doesn't it at least feel a little bit good to be doing this?" The nameless being commented with a bit of a grin on his face, and Joe Dark closed his eyelids a little bit and said "Don't press your lucky replicas…We both need to concentrate on stopping this damned black hole!" Joe Dark did have a good point, and the nameless being quieted himself for now and concentrated on the black hole once more.

Still, even in these trying times, the nameless being couldn't help but find humor in this situation. The new Dark King of all people was helping the successors of the Elemental Overlord save the universe. Such a thing never could have been imagined two-thousand years ago when the originals fought each other. This would be a grand moment in history if the two were successful, and no one would be around to know that this happened. The nameless being thought to himself _"Then again…The Chronicler is always watching…But I doubt he'll help this time around."_

With both figures concentrating on the black hole, it was still slowing down more and more, but not enough that it felt like it was going to fully stop anytime soon. Joe Dark shared the same sentiments the nameless being did earlier and exclaiming "You must be joking! Is this thing being fueled by that bastard's energy still?!" The nameless being remarked in turn "I was thinking the same thing…But that can't be right! This thing is just ridiculously strong!"

The black hole lashed back at the two figures with a strange telekinetic force, and as they both grimaced the nameless being remarked "But I'm willing to go back and assume that this thing might be sentient! This is a ridiculous amount of resistance for just a black hole!" Joe Dark exclaimed as he stood against the push of the black hole with a firm grasp of his fists in front of his body "Like hell I will surrender anytime soon to any black hole, sentient or not! And you better do the same as well or I will pound your soul down to hell along with me!"

"Hahahah, at least we aren't losing our spirit now, Joe Dark! Who's afraid of a damn black hole? I'm sure as hell not!" The nameless being exclaimed as he let out a flare of energy around his body and pushed back against whatever might the black hole showed against him, and Joe Dark did the same without saying a word. The black hole slowed down some more, but the two were still a long way off from stopping it. It had been ten minutes already since this effort had begun, and while the two had plenty of energy to spare they wondered just how long it was all going to last.

"Y-You know…I haven't tested the limits of this form, but I imagine I CAN run out of energy at some point…How about you Joe Dark, how are you holding up?" The nameless being said, and Joe Dark commented with visible strain in his voice "I can go at this for hours if that's what it will take! Besides, can't you use that form Riku used against me before?!" The nameless being chuckled a bit and said "A-About that…That form strains my body a lot, so there's no guarantee I'd survive long enough to finish the black hole."

"Tsk…! What a pain in the ass! Then we might as well be good as dead in due time! Come to think about it, even if we stop this black hole, what is the guarantee that we'll even have anyone alive in the universe?! Justek used every sun and star to create these, he told me that much!" Joe Dark pointed out with a bit of concern forced through his angered tone, and the nameless being replied with "H-He said that if we can stop the black hole, then we win! For all that he's done, I don't think he was lying about that!"

"How can you trust him after all of his trickery?!" Joe Dark pointed out, and the nameless being exclaimed "I-I don't know why I should, you're right, but I don't see I shouldn't distrust him either! Maybe his moments of kindness were leading up to making me doubt his intentions and confuse me in this crucial moment, but if I don't cling onto that trust in what he said then what other options are left to us?!" Joe Dark couldn't exactly disagree with that, and as much as he hated to admit he accepted that trust the being had in Justek's words and used it to push against the black hole some more.

Perhaps to reward the two's inability to give up, a certain someone suddenly called out to the two of them from behind, exclaiming at the top of her lungs "W-We're not done yet! There's still o-o-one thing we can try!" The nameless being didn't have to look over his shoulder to recognize that it was Kairi calling out to him. She was limping a little bit, but her body had pretty much recovered from the battle with Justek otherwise. Joe Dark glanced over his shoulder and said in a confused tone "Who the hell are you?"

Kairi remarked bluntly "I-I could ask you the same damn thing, but since you're helping us right now I'd assume you're on our side…" The nameless being remarked "I'll explain this later Kairi, are you sure you should be on your feet right now? Your energy still feels a little off…" Kairi swung her right arm out and exclaimed "There's no time for you to be worrying about that right now! I-I got an idea to make this work, and I need you both to shut up and listen, we don't have time to waste!"

Joe Dark glanced at the nameless being and remarked in a snide tone "So this must be the girlfriend of one of you…How charming she is." The nameless being gave him a piercing glance before Kairi went on to slam down on the Neo Drive to activate it again, and as her rainbow wings flare up behind Joe Dark feels the surge of power coming from her and remarks with a twinge in his body "W-What the hell is that power?! …Gah, I'm being dragged into some more insanity even now…But whatever, get on with your plan girl!"

As Kairi glared at Joe Dark with some annoyance on her mind, she nevertheless explained "The Neo Drive could theoretically give both of you enough power to stop the black hole entirely…I'm taking a risk here though, this thing should only be able to be used on Aurians…" The nameless being immediately exclaimed "I'm willing the take whatever risks here Kairi! There's no time for hesitation here!" "Hurry up then girl! We don't have any other options!" Joe Dark exclaimed a moment later.

"Alright then, lets put an end to Justek's plans together then! This is our last chance to save this universe, and I'm sure as hell not going to let him get away with this after everything we've fought so hard to achieve!" Kairi exclaimed before swinging her arms out and pushing the aura of the Neo Drive towards the nameless being and Joe Dark, and as the aura connects around their bodies they suddenly feel an incredible surge of power within themselves. Joe Dark's heart skipped a beat in shock as his body surged with a dark rainbow aura, while the nameless being's aura became bright and neon in color. Joe Dark exclaimed in disbelief "W-Whoa! H-H-How is this possible?!"

Kairi forced a grin as she held the Neo Drive's power together even with the pain in her body, remarking happily "I-It's working! I can tell you guys are getting stronger from the Neo Drive! So hurry it up, push with everything you've both got while we still have a chance!" Triumphantly, the nameless being exclaimed "Way to go Kairi! You really pulled our head out of the fire on this one! When we get through this, you deserve whatever type of vacation you want!" The nameless being then thrust all of his strength towards holding back the black hole.

Joe Dark just glanced at the being for a moment and thought to himself _"Look at him…You can't even tell that he was even the least bit worried just a moment ago. So this is the strength of his bond of love…Bah, even when I'm helping one of Whiter's bloodline I'm still feeling jealousy towards him…"_ Looking towards the black hole, he then says _"But still…It's because of these bonds that we're going to make it through…So there's truth to what he said, no matter how insane it might've sound…"_

"… _But how could I possibly have bonds with anyone? Am I even worthy of having a genuine bond after all this time? Damn it…! Whiter's replicas are making me act sappy! I don't have time for this, I need to just get this thing over with and stop Justek's plans once and for all!"_ Joe Dark, through his own motivations, swung his hands up and let out a roar alongside the nameless being and Kairi. All three of them pooled their efforts together, the power of an Aurian, the Dark King and the Elemental Overlord working alongside their sheer determination and inability to give up to create a powerful pull that not even the black hole could no longer resist against.

In a matter of seconds, it began to grind to a halt, but as it did so something rather abnormal began to happen. From within the black hole, something began to escape…A piercing white light that shook the entire universe whole. Looking around, the three could see other lights shining out from across the once dark expanse of the universe. The light swallowed the arena whole rather quickly, and in haste the nameless being turned around and began to run towards a panicking Kairi while exclaiming her name.

Joe Dark's voice was swallowed by the sound of the roaring lights, but it could be inferred that he was enraged by what was going on. The nameless being stretches his hand out to grab Kairi's own, but both of them are frozen as the light swallows them up entirely. All at once, everything in the universe went silent. Not a single sound was made, not a single action was taken for an entire minute…

And then, suddenly, someone widened their eyes open and looked towards a sunny blue sky. Feeling his heart beat against his chest, the person quickly laid their arms down and felt some slightly damp grass below him. They immediately turned their heads and looked at the grass, grasping some of it in their hand a couple of times to make sure that he was feeling genuine grass. Once he had confirmed that, he panted a bit as his heart started racing, and he pushed himself upright and looked around to get a grasp of his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed on the ground was Kairi lying down, and after quietly saying her name he quickly ran over to her and bent down to lift her head up. When she didn't react at first with anything but a tired groan despite the person shaking her gently, the person leaned down close to her face and whispered "Come on, please wake up…" he then kissed her on the lips with genuine if not desperate effort put into it. There was a quick reaction from Kairi in the form of her getting into the kiss as well, but then she slowly opens her eyelids and pulls away while letting out a gasp of surprise.

The person pulls away and looks into Kairi's frightened eyes as she blankly stares his way, with him remarking "Oh thank god! You're alive…! Umm, at least I think you're alive!" Kairi tilted her head a little bit back and forth and didn't say anything at force as she just awkwardly blinked, leading to the person saying "Kairi…Are you going to say anything?" Kairi finally lifted a hand up and pointed at the person's face while remarking "Did you not notice something a little off here Mew? …That is, if you aren't that person from before still…?"

Her lack of certainty in her voice along with the puzzled look on her face made the person pull back and let go, accidentally making Kairi fall flat on the ground before she could get an arm to support herself, and the person felt himself over real quick and realized that he was no longer the nameless being but rather back to being Mew. "H-Huh…So I'm back to normal now." Mew realized in a subdued tone as he rubbed his cheeks, and after a momentary pause he said "Wait, then that would mean…!"

Mew stands up and turns around while Kairi finally gets a chance to get a grasp of her surroundings after glaring angrily at Mew for a moment, but the two of them manage to focus on the same thing at the same time…That being the fact that Riku was back, lying unconscious on the ground a few feet away. Mew's expression immediately became one of bliss as he started laughing happily and then ran forward, dropping to his knees beside Riku while Kairi rubs the back of her head and gets back onto her feet, looking around and noticing that they were in the middle of a grassy field away from a line of mountains.

"This feels like the Earth…But…" Kairi's curiosity about the situation was discarded as Mew patted Riku on the chest and got him awake, with Mew stating merrily "We did it Riku! We saved everyone! Hahahaha! Come on man, wake up so we can celebrate!" The ecstasy in Mew's voice was unfathomable, and Riku slowly began to lift his head up off the ground a moment later. It was an effort made harder by the fact that he was still missing an arm, but as his brother helped him sit up Riku looked at him and remarked "Did we really?"

Mew stood up with a smile and said "Yep! Thanks to Joe Dark's assistance, we were able to…" Mew suddenly realized the lack of Joe Dark's presence in the area and said while tilting his head and looking around "…Come to think about it, where is he?" Kairi glared at Mew and told him bluntly "Can we really even start celebrating yet? How the hell do we even know we succeeded? Just what the HELL was that white light that came out of the black hole?!"

Mew raised his right hand up and said calmly "Relax Kairi, now that I got a grip on things, I can tell that we're back on our Earth…There's no way I wouldn't recognize my home planet. It's weird though, whatever damages caused by Solaris' flames and Lunis' ice is gone…" Riku laid his arm on his legs and said "It's so weird…Is this all Justek's doing? …How can we say for certain that he didn't go through with his plans in the end? For all we know, this could be the new universe made without the 'higher-ups' presence…"

"Huh? What?" Kairi said in quick and confused succession, and Mew folded his arms together and said "We'll explain later Kairi…And I get your point Riku, but Justek did make it clear that he would let things go if we succeeded in stopping his black hole." Riku raised an eyebrow to that and said "I don't recall him ever saying anything like that…And if he did say anything like that, then why?"

"Umm…Well…" Mew's interrupted when Riku stood up and said as he did so "He was so determined to stop the 'higher-ups'…So why would he just up and quit? If he was content with letting us stop him…Then what the hell was even the point of all of this?!" Riku was quite flustered by whatever Justek's intentions were, and Mew couldn't really offer him a response besides a simple "We'll probably never know Riku…I don't think Justek ever wanted us to understand what he was up to."

After a pause, Riku closed his eyelids and let out a tired sigh, saying nothing more while Mew just folded his arms against his chest and Kairi scratched the side of her head. The battle with Justek was over, and yet there were so many questions on all of their minds that none of them could truly enjoy the peace that they were given. There was still a ways to go before they could truly rest, but at least one hurdle was crossed…

 _Next Time: What now?_


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33: Was This Peace Worth It?**

Not long after the end of their battle with Justek, Mew, Riku and Kairi decided to see what's happened to the world after everything seemingly went back to normal. Mew and Riku went back to their house while Kairi chose to visit Sancturia and check on her people. As they flew through the air, Mew glanced at Riku and noticed how quiet he was being. Mew raised his eyebrows and asked him "How are you doing Riku? Feeling any side effects after we combined our powers?" Riku didn't say anything at first and looked at the ground, which appeared pure and untouched by any flames.

Mew looked away and with a nervous chuckle he said "Sorry, I shouldn't probably be bothering you right now, Riku…" Riku lifted his head up and looked at Mew, telling him quietly "Oh it's nothing like that brother…I'm just still a little winded from everything we've been through. We used a lot of energy to stop Justek's plans, and I'm honestly surprised you don't look the least bit tired." Mew grinned and said "I'm just better at hiding when I'm tired, that's all. We did good though…At least I really, REALLY hope we did."

"The fact that the Earth has been healed up from Solaris' flames is odd though. Is this yet another thing Justek set up with that reality bending alien?" Riku commented, and Mew said "You mean Mr. Reality? Ummm, it's the only thing that makes sense really. Still can't believe even he got dragged into all of this…" Riku let out a quick sigh and pointed out "A lot of people we knew got dragged involved, brother. Considering the pattern of things, Joe Dark being around shouldn't have surprised us…"

"How so?" Mew inquired in a puzzled tone, and Riku extended his left hand out after a moment of remembering he couldn't use his right and explained "He's always been there, even when neither of us existed, with his overbearing grudge to make Alex Whiter pay for something…Considering I fought Mr. Reality and Kairi fought Gravitus, I imagine Justek had mind-controlled Joe Dark to fight Alex Whiter back on Venus."

Mew widened his eyes a little and then rubbed his chin as he remarked "You know, I never thought about it like that until you pointed it out. Joe Dark was the reason I chose to make you in the first place, since it was my fight with him that awakened 'D.' in my mind." Riku commented in turn "And I fought him not too long ago…It was because of that fight that I chose to awaken the Genesis Form. It's weird to think that Joe Dark fought all three of us, but despite that chose to help us save the universe from the black hole."

"And yet now he's just disappeared. Shouldn't he have shown up alongside us when the Earth was restored and we were dragged back here?" Mew commented, and with an exasperated sigh Riku pointed out "I doubt questioning whatever Justek did at the end is going to get us anywhere…For all we know Joe Dark could be on the other side of the universe right now and we might never see him again."

"Considering how connected to us he seems to be, I sincerely doubt that Riku. Though speaking of never seeing something again, I just now realized that the sun is back." Mew commented while pointing upward, and Riku looked towards the sun in the sky and said in a surprised tone "I-I didn't even realize that…I'm definitely going to appreciate the sun a lot more than I did before…" As Riku scratched the back of his head, Mew chuckled at that and nodded his head in agreement.

"…SPEAKING of the sun…" Mew was quickly interrupted by Riku telling him "Yeah you're wondering the same thing I am, aren't you? Just what happened to Justek's ship, and more specifically Lunis and Solaris. There's no way they're dead…" "And there's always the possibility they might come attack the planet because we killed their father…" Mew let out a bit of a nervous hum upon realizing that.

"You want me to head to the sun and check that out?" Riku offered, and Mew scratched the back of his head and said "No, the sun should be back to it's normal level of heat by now, you'd likely get fried if you tried to approach it. I think I might know someone who could handle surveillance of the sun, but first I'll have to find them." "Alright, if you say so brother." Riku said with confidence in his brother's words, and now they had finally flown far enough to reach their mountain home. The two landed down near the front door and Mew opened the way inside.

As Mew and Riku headed inside the house, Mew immediately stopped in place on the mat and looked around, finding comfort in his humble abode that he hadn't felt all day. Mew walked to his couch and plopped down onto it, letting out a sigh of relief as he cuddled a pillow close to his chest while Riku headed towards the hallway and looked around. "There's a lot of space in this house, isn't there? There's even a second floor we could use…" Riku commented.

Mew lifted his head up and said happily "Yeah, the second floor mostly has a couple guest rooms and the bathroom. Kairi uses the downstairs quest room when she stays, so the other two are open. You thinking about moving in now that things are over Riku?" Riku turned around and said while walking towards the living room "I-I'm considering it. There's a lot of things I have to figure out now that Justek's done for…The most pressing one being…"

Riku wiggled his stump of a right arm out and grimaced as Mew turned to look at him, and Mew gave him a sympathetic look and said earnestly "If there's anything you want me to help out with regarding that, I'll do whatever I can." Riku blushed a bit as he looked at his brother and told him "I'll manage on my own…It's my mistake that led to this, so I just need to learn to fight with just one arm. But thank you for the offer anyways, brother…"

There was then a brief period of silence before Riku commented "…You know, we're both having a really hard idea figuring out what to do next, aren't we? I've just gotten that vibe ever since we split apart…" Mew laid his arms out atop his legs and said calmly "Yeah, that's probably a side effect of connecting our energies together, we can still tell what we're thinking if only for a little bit…Though you're a bit wrong, I DO have an idea of something I want to do right now, but I'm just doubting whether I should suggest it considering our feelings on the matter…Or rather, the person in question."

Riku pegged what his brother had in mind right away, and though there was some hesitation in his voice he nevertheless commented "If you want to do that, I'm not going to stop you. It's what YOU want, my opinions should have no effect on your decisions." Mew grinned and said "Thanks for that, honestly. I'll get on that in a bit then." Mew kicked up off the couch and stretched his arms behind his back, saying after a brief yawn "I'll probably go to sleep after I'm done with that though…Well, that and I hear back from Kairi."

"I think I've lost track of time…How long did we have to deal with Justek? It feels like days, even months…" Riku inquired, having not a watch in his possession since he arrived from E. Gadd's laboratory. Mew glanced at the clock in the room and said "Well unless the black hole screwed up time and space for all of us…It's only been ten hours since I left my house with Kairi to go after Alex." Riku blinked a few times and said in an exasperated tone "Shit…Only that long? I don't know how to feel about that…"

"I'm just going to try not to think about it, that's better for my sanity right now. Still though Riku, at least we saved everything quickly…Who knows how many lives could've been lost had we not stopped the Vortexians sooner?" Mew said while gesturing an arm towards his brother, who responds in kind with "Oh yeah, that's what I was going to mention next. What the HELL are we even going to do about this incident? It's not like we can exactly go to the president or whatever other world leaders on our planet and tell them what happened."

Mew widened his eyes a little and said in a serious tone "I really hate to say it, but we're probably just going to have to hope that everything passes over with that." Riku exclaimed his brother's name in disbelief, forcing Mew to raise his right hand up and explain in detail "Sancturia is an important part of this whole affair, and the last thing we want is to expose the Aurians to our people. Not to mention we're not even registered citizens since we're clones and all. How exactly could we explain ANYTHING we've done today to anyone besides our close friends?"

Mew coughs a little bit and then raises a hand up, saying in an overly dramatic tone "Oh don't worry about it Mr. President, you were just invaded by robots created by a two-thousand year old half-wyvern, half-dragon, half-human whose children are deities that could burn and freeze over the planet. Also, there's an alien city above the north pole and we're not even registered as citizens despite being born on this world because we're clones. No big deal I SWEAR it." Mew then wiggled his hand around and look at Riku, who folded his arms together and commented "Well fine, I suppose it would be a bitter pill for them to swallow…"

Mew nodded his head afterwards, but Riku still had to say "Still, we should at least try and do something to really help the planet out after all that. We owe our fellow humans that much." "I'll just double my efforts to assist them. Not like I plan on going anywhere, at least not yet." Mew commented, and Riku agreed with that idea. Then Mew quickly went on to say to him "Anyways, I think I'll get on to what I was wanting to do before."

Mew then headed for the door to go outside, and Riku followed close behind to support the decision he was about to make. Mew leaped over to the nearby mountainside and punched it just hard enough to knock out a chunk of rock from the side as big as half of his body. He then carried that rock with him back to the front of his house, holding it up in front of him with his mind as he then rapidly and precisely jabbed his fingers at the rocks to chip it apart and etch in some words on the front of it. Once he was done, he had created a decent-sized gravestone.

Mew flipped it around to show Riku how the text came out, and with a basic font the stone said "Alex Whiter 2025-2041. A farewell to who you were before, not to the monster you ended up becoming…" Riku was impressed with how clean it all looked and nodded his head, saying with a bit of a smile on his face "It looks good brother. Where are you going to place it though?" Mew, instead of saying anything, walked to the front of his house and placed the gravestone down into the ground to the left of the door.

Once confirming the gravestone was firmly in place, Mew let loose of his grip on it and said "There…Now he can finally rest where he belongs." Riku stood beside his brother and looked down at the grave, asking him quietly "Anything you want to say about him?" Mew shook his head and remarked "Now's not really the time…I need to sort out my thoughts before I can really say something about him. For now, I just wanted to set up a gravestone."

Riku nodded his head slightly and then raised his arm up to pat his brother on the shoulder, and Mew said "I still can't believe that he had put a defensive measure in my mind to stop 'D.' from fully becoming one with me. It was the last kind thing he did for me…" Riku then crossed his arm in front of his chest and commented "If only that Alex Whiter continued to be the one we saw…But now he's done his evil deeds and is likely burning in hell for eternity."

"And we'll be the only ones who will know what he's truly done…God, what a burden to bear as his clones, isn't it?" Mew said while nonchalantly rubbing the back of his head, leading to Riku commenting in turn "Not any tougher than bearing the weight of trillions of lives, that's for sure." Mew nodded his head and then stepped back a bit away from the gravestone, turning around as he sensed someone approaching from the sky. As it turned out, it was Kairi, who quickly landed on the ground in front of him with a tired look in her eyes.

"You holding up alright there Kairi?" Mew inquired, and Kairi shook her head and said in a grumpy tone "My body is sore from all that fighting, my head hurts from everything I'm still trying to process, and GAH!" With her frustration let in the form of her stamping a foot hard against the ground, Kairi was quickly hugged by Mew in an attempt to off her some relief, and while she was briefly surprised by the suddenness of the hug she quickly glanced over his shoulder and noticed the grave for Alex Whiter which caused her to let out a prolonged sigh before she rubbed her forehead with two fingers.

Mew pulled back upon sensing the tenseness in her sigh and said "What else is bothering you Kairi?" Kairi looked away from Mew for a moment and remarked in a grumbling manner "Nothing…It's just that grave reminded that because Alex is dead, I've lost one of the few leads I had to Shina's location. I hate to sound selfish here, but it really feels like out of the three of us, I got dicked over the most."

As an attempt to offer condolences, Mew said to Kairi honestly "Well to hell with Alex's information. He probably wouldn't have given up anything anyways. I'll scour every inch of space if that's what it will take to find your sister. We have plenty of free time to do so now that Justek is gone." That seemed to help a bit, as Kairi cracked half a smile and looked at Mew, telling him bluntly "You idiot, you don't have to do any of that…I got something else in mind, so just save that offer in case this doesn't work out."

Mew nodded his head, and quickly changed subjects by asking Kairi "So how are things holding up in Sancturia?" Kairi explained while looking Mew straight in the eyes "My people are recovering pretty well, all things considered. Mom said there's no traces of the Vortexians left on the planet, the Planetary Aurians ended up in Sancturia save for Pluto who once again escaped, but right now everyone's mostly focusing on paying tribute to all the Aurians who died during Solaris' attack. The service will be held in about a week."

"Well I'm glad the Aurians will be able to recover peacefully…But geez, Pluto is still on the lamb? Just another loose end we have to deal with at some point…" Mew said while scratching the back of his head, with Riku remarking a moment later "Gravitus is dead twice over…Pluto will have no one to turn to from the sounds of things. He'll get his just desserts later on. So Kairi, anything else you want to tell us?"

Kairi nodded her head and remarked "Mom told me a few important thing, specifically a couple things she wanted me to pass on to Riku. For one, those two dragons you know are safe and sound, so you can go visit them whenever you want once you get in contact with them. Next, that reality-bending alien or whatever was sent back home, so you can find him there and ask him some questions if need be. And here's the two biggest bits of news mom had to share…"

Kairi raised a pointer finger up and said in a surprised tone "According to her, she has no idea where Joe Dark is after what happened. She said she was genuinely surprised to know he helped out." Mew widened his eyes a little bit and said "Wait hold up…Your mom somehow didn't know?" Kairi let out a groan and said "She said something about how she couldn't see the future revolving around our battle with Justek because that would be a time where she wouldn't exist due to the black hole…Or something confusing like that, I didn't really understand it."

"Well then forget about it for now, what's the other thing she told you Kairi?" Riku inquired, and Kairi focused on the matter and said "Well now that everything is back to normal, mom said she did know one thing for sure…Justek's ship has been removed from existence, and Lunis and Solaris are still alive and out there somewhere." "She didn't want to specify where they are?" Riku inquired in a puzzled tone.

"You know mom, she's not very forefront with her information…" Kairi said out of embarrassment for that part of her mom's behavior, but Riku just said quickly in response "Well I suppose we'll have to find them both on our own soon enough before they can cause anymore trouble." Mew glanced back at his brother and told him "And Joe Dark too."

"Really?" Riku said with a puzzled raise of his eyebrows and said "I do kind of want to hear your reasoning behind going after him, brother." Mew turned himself sideways and said with his arms held out and a smile on his voice "Well he was a big help in saving the universe from Justek's plans. I would really just like to thank him for his help…" Kairi meanwhile just blinked a few times in confusion as she waited for her chance to speak up.

"I'm not sure if he would appreciate it. He really had a hard time choosing to help us out just because we were related to Alex Whiter." Riku pointed out, and Mew in turn offered a response of "Well then wouldn't it help him out if we showed him that we're not so bad like he was? Maybe if we show him kindness, he might…Become our friend?" Mew said that last part with an admittedly awkward and forced grin, and after Riku blinked a few times he sighed and said "…You're really hoping for a lot there brother, but I suppose I'd be a hypocrite for judging you."

"How so Riku?" Mew inquired, but before Riku responded Kairi spoke out heavily with "You're REALLY going to have to explain to me who this Joe Dark person is later. Cause it sounds like I should REALLY know who he is." Mew glanced at her for a moment said "Joe Dark is the new Dark King, just to let you know that much at least." Kairi just left her mouth agape for a little bit upon connecting the names together and just decided to leave the matter be for now.

Riku went on to explain after that brief detour "See the thing is…While what happened with Solaris and Lunis was horrible and they did threaten our planet, I would like to think that we should probably try and help them out." Kairi snapped her attention towards Riku and exclaimed "What?! You can't be serious!" As Kairi stamped her foot on the ground in anger, she grit her teeth and said "Fine, maybe you could make a case to help Lunis, but Solaris should just be killed for what he did!"

"I get your feelings on this matter Kairi, but it's not that simple. Solaris and Lunis' natures as High Deities are barely known to us…For all we know, killing them could have irreversible consequences on the universe. I'm not saying Solaris should get off scott-free for what he's done either. At the very least, I should be able to get him to repent for what he's done." Riku said, with Mew scratching the side of his head in regards to the notion while also pointing out "That sounds like a much more dangerous task than what I want to do…I mean with Joe Dark we didn't kill his father or anything like that."

"I get that it's going to be a hard task, but that's why I want to be the one to handle it." Riku commented, and Mew just shrugged his shoulders and remarked "Ain't going to argue with you on that one Riku." After Kairi gave Mew a bit of a bitter glare she glanced away from Riku and said in a furious tone "Well whatever, but don't expect me to ever speak with that bastard after what he did!"

To diffuse the situation a little, Mew turned towards Kairi and asked her "So Kairi, now that Justek is dealt with, I suppose you and I have deserved a little vacation, haven't we?" Kairi, with her arms folded against her chest, widened her eyes a bit and had somewhat of a melancholy look in her eyes before she turned to glance over her shoulder, remarking quietly to him "W-We're going to have to hold off on that for a little bit…"

After she looked at him all the way, Kairi said to Mew while holding her hands together in front of her waist "Remember when I said I had an idea on how to find my sister still…? Hehehe…Well, that's what I'm going to be busy with for the next few days. Mom said she owed me something if we made it through all this trouble, so I'm going to bother her about the truth regarding what happened to my sister. That on top of helping out with the services for the departed means I need to stay in Sancturia for a while."

Mew widened his eyes a little, glancing aside and looking saddened and yet understanding of the news, and Kairi looks up and says with a bit of perkiness in her face and a pointer finger aimed at Mew "But it's not like we can't do something fun afterwards, alright?" Mew quickly nodded his head and said "No don't let me stupid melancholy face stop you. You REALLY need this Kairi, so in fact go ahead and go bother your mom about the information right now. Me and Riku can handle things fine by ourselves for a while."

Kairi smiled and said with her heart aflutter "You really don't know how much it means to hear you say that Mew. Thank you…" As Kairi turned around and prepared to depart, Mew snapped his fingers to get her attention briefly and pointed out to her "But if you need any assistance getting Shina back, then you know how to get my attention!" "Hehe, will do. See you later Mew!" Kairi said happily before kicking off the ground and taking flight towards the now sunset sky.

Mew stood in place and thought about her departure before raising a hand to his chest and clenching it tightly into a fist, and Riku walked up beside his brother to put a hand on his shoulder and say "That was pretty hard for you to say, wasn't it?" Mew cracked a smile and pointed out "Heh…No big deal, honest. I'd be an asshole if I didn't give her a chance to find her sister. I just hope she's not pushing herself too hard…"

"You were hoping to give her a vacation to relax herself before she went to find her sister, weren't you?" Riku inquired in a rather surprised tone, and Mew nervously rubbed the back of his head while stating "Well duh…She's not used to this sort of thing like you and I are. If she pushes herself too hard, I'm afraid of her collapsing from a heart attack or something worse than that. But at the same time I don't want to be controlling her every move."

Riku crossed his arm against his chest and said "That was really nice of you though brother to consider things for her like that. But I think she'll be able to handle whatever Auris tells her just fine." Mew sighed and said while turning around "I suppose you're right…Say though, aren't you a little bit curious yourself about what happened between Alex and Shina? Alex only told me some barebones details that were likely skewed from his point of view, but I imagine the full story from Auris would get us a better idea of what happened."

"Now that you mention it, there's something Justek and Alex both brought up that piqued my interest a little…That so-called 'witch of the grey'." Riku remarked with a firm glare towards the sky, and Mew appeared shocked for a moment before stating "Ah crap, I forgot all about that in the middle of Justek nearly killing us all…That 'witch' was a friend of Justek's and someone Alex hated above all else…But that's all we got to go on with them. You think we should bother finding out more about them from Auris? Or maybe Solaris or Lunis would know about them…"

"I feel like we almost shouldn't bother, but at the same time…" Riku was conflicted about finding more about the witch, but Mew just pointed out "We'll just ask Kairi after she gets the story from Auris. Right now we should just try and get back on with our lives until we can find out something about Joe Dark or Solaris and Lunis." "Yeah that seems like our best bet for now. Though speaking of that…" Riku reached into his pockets with his hand and pulled out E. Gadd's communication device.

Mew said in a surprised tone "Oh wow you got one of those on you still? I-I'm quite amazed it survived the battle…" Riku commented dryly with "You and me both…I'm going to go back to Plit for a bit to check up on the professor and fill him on what happened, minus the part about Alex Whiter's involvement." He then tapped a button on the device to pull up a communication line with E. Gadd. Mew decided to stand back for a moment so he wouldn't be caught on the video feed.

" _Ohohohoh! Well look who it is! If it isn't good ol' Riku! I see you're still alive!"_ Mew could easily recognize the professor's laughter over the static in the mic, and it made him crack a smile while Riku said "Yeah, I managed to stop the threat we discovered in that tablet professor. Say, can you open up a portal for me so I can get back to the planet? There's a few things I need to talk to you about."

" _Oh of course I can! Just give me a few seconds and I shall let you come right over…"_ E. Gadd then signed off so he could get the Stargadd operational, while Riku put the device away and commented in a somewhat puzzled tone "He looked pretty good for someone whose planet likely got sucked into a black hole…" Mew remarked "Please don't tell me this means Justek was bluffing when he said he covered the universe in black holes…"

"It wouldn't fit with his plan. I think it's more likely he either wiped everyone's memories of the event through the reality bender's powers as our reward for stopping him…" Riku said as a portal opened up behind him. Mew scratched the side of his head and said "I just REALLY want to forget about Justek's behavior now…I'll never, EVER understand why he was the way he was, but if what you say means we don't have to worry about explaining half the shit we dealt with today then I'll take it."

Riku was about to head into the portal while saying "Well…I'll be back in a little bit then." Riku only took a couple steps towards the portal though before suddenly pausing while Mew looks at him with a puzzled tilt of his head. Riku clenched his fist and then turned back around, suddenly throwing his arm over Mew's shoulders to embrace him in a hug, and all at once the feelings Riku were keeping welled up inside of him over the last few minutes came bursting out as he broke down crying and said "I-I can't say this enough brother! Thank you…Thank you so much for letting be alive!"

Mew, after getting over his surprise of Riku's reaction, patted him on the back and told him as Riku gripped the back of his shirt "And I'm glad you're still alive Riku. I know I saw your memories when he merged together…But I'd really like to hear you talk about the adventures you had out there over the last two years. That's something I believe both of us can look forward to from here on out, wouldn't you agree?" Riku pulled back and with a grin on his face that matched his brother's regular one he said "Yeah, I'll definitely fill you in on all the details."

Riku then gave his brother a thumbs-up and told him with the utmost honesty "Seriously though, I love you as a brother, and I would not trade you away for anything else in the world." That was all he had to say before he raised his hand up to wipe away the tears on his face before he turned to go into the portal, which sealed up and left Mew to stand by himself in front of his house. Mew put his hands in his pants' pockets and let out a sigh, looking towards the bright sunset sky and saying "Guess I'll go get some sleep now…It's been a long day…"

As Mew was on his way to sleep, we return to Sancturia, specifically Kairi's home. There we find Auris sitting at her couch, holding a bottle of liquor in her right hand that was clearly empty. She leans back and lays her arms atop the back of the couch, dropping the bottle and laughing a little bit before she smiled and said "…It's been two-thousand years, but finally it's all over. Farewell Justek Arcavira…And may I never see you again…" Her victorious remarks are interrupted swiftly by Kairi entering the house, and she turns to look at her with a solemn look in her eyes.

"Hello, mother…" Kairi quietly said as she walked across the room towards the couch on the opposite of where her mother was. Once Kairi sat down, she laid her arms on her legs while Auris quietly did the same, lowering her head while remarking "Kairi…I know what it is you've come here for." Kairi looked at her mother and said to her quietly "Yes, I figured you would."

With a firm glare Kairi said "I want to hear everything. Don't leave out a single detail no matter what. If I hear everything, I should be able to figure out where Shina is." Auris looked into the eyes of her daughter and said "I owe you that much, as much as my mind is telling me not to. I will tell you every last detail, Kairi…But be warned, some of it might be tough to swallow. I shall start from the beginning, and go until the very end of what I know…Sit down and get a drink if you must my dear daughter…We're going to be at this for a while…"

 _Next Time: Last Words_


	34. Final Chapter

**Final Chapter: Justek's Last Truths**

Far away from the planet Earth and the celebrations the triumphant heroes were having was a lone asteroid floating endlessly through space. On this asteroid lied the familiar body of Justek, and he was now back in his human form with some scars across his body, particularly a decently large one down the center of his chest. He blinked a couple of times and let out a sigh, as though there was a slight atmosphere around this asteroid of his that allowed him to breathe. He was very weak at this point, and quietly he mustered up the strength to say "So even now I'm still alive…Hmm, but it seems that my black holes have been stopped…"

Justek closed his eyes and said "Alas, it was meant to be in the end, I suppose…Even if Mew, Riku, and Kairi cannot hear me from here, I must surely say that I am proud of what they accomplished…Wouldn't you agree, Joe Dark?" Standing beside Justek on this lone asteroid was the young Dark King himself, with his arms folded together and an angered scowl on his face. Joe Dark tapped his fingers atop his arm and commented "Figures you wouldn't die easy, you bastard…!"

Joe Dark then stamps his foot down on Justek's chest and grit his teeth as he swung his right hand out, remarking in no uncertain terms "You will die right now…Do you have any last words, bastard? Perhaps you want to mock me a little more?!" Even now, without fail, Justek remains calm and remarks in a jovial tone to his company "Actually I have quite a few things to say. Would you be a dear guest and hear a dying old man out?"

With furious eyes Joe Dark exclaimed while beginning to charge darkness up in his palm "Nothing you say could possibly be of value to me after all you've done! Just die quietly!" Justek responded in turn with a chuckle and a remark of "But if I did that, then you'd never find out just why I did most of the things I did today. Trust me when I say that I can do nothing to stop you from killing me right now, so it's up to you in the end if you wish to listen or not."

Conflicted between his desires to end this man's life and the questions that plagued his mind because of how said man has behaved, Joe Dark eventually swung his hand out and launched the darkness away into space, where it faded from view within seconds, and Joe Dark himself let out an angered grunt before proclaiming "Fine, if you wish to give me answers, then start with this…!" Joe Dark looked Justek straight in the eyes and exclaimed to him "Why the hell did you dare to use me as your puppet?!"

As Joe Dark crunched Justek's rib cage a little by moving his foot around, Justek remarked "Well I won't be able to speak clearly if you crush my lungs, for one…So you might want to-" "Get ON with it before I change my mind." Joe Dark firmly stated to interrupt him, and Justek just smiled and said without so much as a care "Such a temper…Truly, that makes you different from the original Dark King, who was always so unnaturally calm. But even so, you have inherited his karma…"

"You better not seriously be pulling out such a word against me, old man…" Joe Dark said after a momentary growl, followed by Justek pointing out "You inherited his powers, and for a time you inherited his spirit…It stands to reason that in turn you got his karma as well." "Like hell I did…!" Joe Dark remarked bitterly a moment later, and he was also just a second away from charging up energy in his hand again.

"Why would you be angry at me for pointing this out? It was the original Dark King who left this karma to his successor…That selfish man is to blame. I was simply taking advantage of that karma…" Justek remarked, followed by Joe Dark stating "You aren't really answering my question, you bastard…!" Justek smiled a little and said "In a roundabout way, I kind of am. But if you would prefer a more direct response, then I suppose I could adjust my way of speaking a little to accommodate your desires."

Justek closed his eyes and said to the growing ever more impatient Joe Dark "I suppose, truth be told, it's not just a matter of you having the Dark King's karma, but also that I personally hold a deep grudge towards the Dark King himself. Even though you are in no way related to the man, the fact that you share his power and at one point housed his spirit blinded me, and I chose to hypnotize you to briefly work for me as a means of taking out my anger towards that man."

"Hmph, while I do agree that damned spirit was horrible to be around, you had no right to use me as your puppet because of what he did…!" Joe Dark exclaimed, and Justek told him after a weak nod of his head "And you are right to be angry at me for that…" "Then why did you do it?! WHAT WAS THE POINT?!" Joe Dark's energy flared up around him as he let out his anger with all of his might.

"Did I not give you a chance to fight Whiter again? You know, it's quite funny really…You could have very easily killed Whiter at this point in time had you not just resisted my control and let me unleash all the power you had in your possession." After Justek pointed this out, Joe Dark firmly grit his teeth and said "Then that's not my victory…! I, and only I, deserved to kill Whiter! You robbed me of that chance Justek, you robbed me of my life's goal!"

"Then you don't really have much of a life to live in the first place…" Justek dryly commented without at all flinching when Joe Dark began to charge energy in his palm once more. "Revenge against one man…And just what exactly were you planning to do if you somehow managed to accomplish that goal? What life would've existed for you after you accomplished such a lofty goal?" After Justek says that, Joe Dark pauses for a moment and then crunches the energy out of his hand while stating "I didn't need to think of what would have happened afterwards! All that mattered was that he was dead and that I would finally find happiness!"

"You and I both know that isn't true, Joe Dark. You wished to not be lonely…You desired companionship…But the further you went in your quest to stop Whiter, the more you realized that you were detaching yourself more and more from the ability to form bonds with others. You could only relate to others who shared your goal without the desire of interfering, such as Chaos Alex…And that's also why you at first rejected the notion of having Mr. Reality come along with you, as you felt that he would not be able to follow your goals for long."

When Justek's words were at an end, Joe Dark glanced to the side and grimaced a little, leading to him then remarking quietly "Damn you…!" "I wish not to brag about something…But you should probably thank me a bit for putting an end to Whiter's life. Are you not now liberated from having to chase after him? Did you not just help save the universe from my plans, well…As far as your perspective goes? Why can you not be happy right now, Joe Dark?" Justek was a little bit taunting at the end of his sentence.

Adamantly, Joe Dark exclaimed to Justek "Because I was supposed to be the one to kill Whiter! I refused to let anyone else claim that job from me! That damn witch, the Dark King, that man with the dreadlocks…I denied them the right to Whiter's life because I had every reason to kill him myself! And then you come along, you wretched relic of the past, and took all of that away from me! Do you not understand how I feel?!"

Justek opened his eyes and said "After all these years of seeing the many timelines unfold before me, I suppose I have become numb to the emotion of empathy. Though at the same time, I do understand on some level what it's like to have something taken away…You and I aren't so different in that regard." "We are NOTHING alike, you bastard…! How dare you even suggest-" Joe Dark's rage is swiftly interrupted by "Not in the sense of personality, of course not…I would never be so foolish as to suggest that, but what I mean by that is that our lives were forever changed by a single similar event…The demise of our entire family line."

Joe Dark grit his teeth slightly and said in a bitter tone "And do you expect me to pity you because of that?" "Not at all, just pointing out a mere similarity. These events acted as a catalyst that spiraled us both further and further into despair…Beyond the point that my family was lost, I was subjected to the Anti-Genesis Theorem, which not only granted me immortality, but the ability to see the flaws in this universe and exploit them…And the most accursed 'gift' of all, the ability to see the future without at all being able to shut it off…" Justek stated in a melancholy tone.

"Hmph…And so what of it?" Joe Dark inquired, and Justek just kept on talking without paying much attention to Joe Dark's sharp words "I hated watching as futures unfolded before my eyes, playing out such cruel events as the death of my dear friends over and over again, sometimes watching as I was the one who ended their lives after becoming a cruel and despicable monster. But at the same time, those futures were my only means of vision, as that demon had left me blind on the same day he killed my family…"

Joe Dark suddenly raised his eyebrows in interest and said to Justek upon realizing the man has never actually looked at him directly so far "Wait a moment…Then you can't see me right now, can you?" Justek nodded his head a bit and remarked "Though there is truly no need…Since I've seen you here before this point in time, Joe Dark. As of now, I am seeing things as I should be…Nothing but the pitch black darkness that is as cold and unwelcoming as the depths of space itself…" Justek reaches his right hand up but only feels a gentle and paralyzing chill on his body as he does so.

"My reach of being able to see the future extended only to the moment of my passing…Once I had seen every moment where I'd die, I was left blind once more, and I had to remember all of those timelines to be able to react appropriately to the universe around me. The stress of such knowledge aged me greatly…I am barely over forty years old, but I look as though I am in my seventies…" Justek then laid the hand atop his chest and said "While my two dear friends still maintained their youth…"

"Tell me Joe Dark…What do you see when you look at me?" Justek inquired while a tiny smile appeared on his face. Joe Dark folded his arms together and stated bluntly "I have no clue why the hell you are asking me this…But all I see is a pathetic old man who is running his mouth on his deathbed." Justek chuckled a little at that and said with his eyes shut "Pathetic…Yes, I think that's truly the appropriate word to describe me."

"But I am a pathetic man who has achieved victory on this day, even if my initial goal was not accomplished." Justek stated with a bit of a smirk on his face, and with eyebrows raised Joe Dark said "I knew it…Your little stunt there at the end with the black hole was your back-up plan in case we somehow managed to stop it!" Before Joe Dark could attack Justek for that ploy, the man stated bluntly "You seem to assume that I am a sore loser here, in that case. No, what I did at the end was simply return the universe to the way it was before I had turned the sun into a black hole. Well, to be more specific-"

"You had the reality bender make it so that would happen…Tsk, I don't know what's more insulting, the fact that you made everything right or that you could've won at any time with that alien's powers…" Joe Dark said bitterly, and Justek just laughed that observation off by saying to him "A more vicious and cruel version of myself would've done that, but I am not one who believes in using such unfair methods. In fact, you could say I used his powers to make things more fair for all of you. Shielding the ship from the black hole's power, resetting things should you manage to stop the black hole in the first place…"

After a brief glare towards the man, Joe Dark said to him "Then what the hell was your plan in the first place if you figured that we'd stop your black hole? Stop dragging things out and get to the point, old man!" Justek responded swiftly in kind by saying "My goal was a rather simple one…Either I would put an end to the 'higher-ups' and put an end to one of the remaining obstacles to my dear friends' happiness…Or I would die and that other obstacle to their happiness would be forever removed from this world."

Joe Dark just remained silent and closed his eyes until Justek said to him "In that way, I am a bit jealous of you, Joe Dark, which is a rather odd thing to say considering my jealousy is towards the fact that you got to die once…" "Excuse me?" Joe Dark remarked in an outright offended tone before Justek got the chance to explain to him "You need not take offense with what I'm saying…It's not that hard to understand."

Joe Dark held his arms out beside himself while pointing out "You could have just easily ended your own life if you were that desperate to do so. Are you seriously expecting me to believe that you couldn't?" Justek smiled a bit and told him "A curse of my bloodline, I'm afraid…A wyvern must die to another, they are not allowed to suicide. It's a little more complicated than that, but I do not wish to bore you…"

Joe Dark folded his arms together and bluntly said in a growling voice "It just seems like a load of bullshit to me…Perhaps you're just trying to make an excuse for your actions. But if you so ready to die, then I shall finally grant your wish, old man." Joe Dark then held his right hand out and began charging for the third time, only for Justek to say much to his frustration "Now hold on a second, I'm not quite done yet…"

As Justek smiled Joe Dark dispelled the energy and send angrily "You are really trying my patience…How much longer are you going to go for?!" Justek stated a moment later "Considering you have had enough patience so far to keep tolerating my ramblings, I suppose I might be able to go on for a while…But I do truly appreciate you taking the time to listen." Joe Dark scowled and said "I'm not going to give you that much longer. There's not much more you could possibly give to me that would make me care…"

"No, I suppose that is true enough…Anyways, you do bring up a good point, Joe Dark…There were probably other ways I could have ended my life if not through myself. But at the same time, a part of me wanted this power to be overcome…For if someone could overcome me, they'd be a step closer to putting an end to the 'higher-ups' in my place. My friend could not bring himself to do that though…His very optimism was the weakness that he could not overcome to stop me, even if his strength eclipsed my own greatly…"

After Justek made that remark, he turned his head slightly to 'look' at Joe Dark and said to him "And it seems that I couldn't trust Mew and Riku to finish me off. I thought for sure I'd bleed out from the wound they inflicted, but that doesn't appear to be the case…Though thankfully for me, you are more than capable of killing someone, aren't you? I expect you to show me no mercy, Joe Dark…" Justek then closed his eyes while Joe Dark raised his eyebrows and remarked "Is that all you have to say now?"

"Just one more thing…Have you determined what exactly it is you shall do once you are done with me?" Justek's inquiry made Joe Dark state in a blunt tone "What does it matter to you what I do beyond this point?" "I am simply curious to know, that's all…Seeing as how I can't see the future anymore, it'd be nice to figure out someone's future through their own words instead of having it handed to me. You can at least grant me that much before I die…" Justek remarked.

"Honestly, I couldn't care less about what you want except for your desire to die. What I do from here on out is none of your business…!" Joe Dark then began to charge up energy again in his hand, followed by Justek chuckling at this remark as he said to him afterwards "I suppose you aren't particularly wrong…It's just that without Alex Whiter around, you have nowhere else to go. A pity too really…You don't even realize what his death means to you because you choose to ignore it and bury it deep within your own subconscious…"

"I don't need to hear your blabbering any longer, old man!" Joe Dark said rather defensively, and with one eye open Justek smirked a bit and remarked "Or perhaps you do realize it…That subconscious of yours must have finally decided to crack over these last few years. You remember what he never could…" Joe Dark holds off his attack due to the cryptic nonsense Justek was saying now, remarking in an absolutely furious tone "Do not think you can trick me with your words now, you decrepit old man!"

"And yet you paused…Joe Dark, let me ask you. Has there ever been a point in time where your doubt has given way to a thought…? A thought that perhaps, in some way…You might still have family alive somewhere?" Justek's inquiry made Joe Dark exclaim to him with eyes widened in an offended rage "How DARE you even suggest that?! Every last member of my family died on that day! They were all there, I KNOW they were!"

"And you aren't wrong, but you are just missing a single word…An adjective to be precise. It was every last member of your 'adoptive' family that died on that day." Justek stated without hesitation, leading to Joe Dark grimacing a little, clenching his teeth together and saying bluntly "A-Adoptive? T-That's preposterous! I am a member of the Dark family, the son of my mother and father…I am NOT adopted!"

"Then tell me, what are your parents' names?" Justek said with a subtle grin on his face, and Joe Dark did not take caution with his thoughts and blurted out "My mother's name is Lumi-…!" Joe Dark snapped out of his sentence for a moment and recoiled back a bit in shock, and Justek's grin widened a little more before Joe Dark laid a hand aside his head and remarked "I-I mean my father's name is Abra-" Once more the boy stopped himself and gripped his head tightly as something seemed to be trying to break through his mind.

"W-What the hell have you done to me?!" Joe Dark exclaimed angrily, leading to Justek stating "I have done nothing to push these memories back into your mind, Joe Dark. You are simply remembering what had been buried away…" Justek then smiled a little and said "All this time, your actions…Your hatred towards Whiter, it had all been guided by your subconscious, as you had just barely remembered the true connection you had towards him…It was the trauma of being parted from your true family that made you forget and accept the family life the Darks gave you."

Justek smiled a little and said "So I'm guessing you remember it now, brother of Alex Whiter?" Joe Dark panted a little bit as memories sharply went into his mind, one by one confusing the boy greatly as he sees faces he shouldn't be seeing. Joe Dark says "N-No…! Whiter can't possibly be my brother…!" After a few more seconds of grunting in pain, Joe Dark swings his right hand out towards Justek with an expression of pure, pained madness before exclaiming "THAT'S IT! No more hesitation…! You die here and now, JUSTEK!"

Darkness erupted from Joe Dark's hand like never before, creating a pale aura around his body while Justek just closes his eyes and thinks to himself _"My time has come at last…In my final moments, do I truly have any regrets? …Yes, I do actually…Lunis, Solaris, my dear, dear children…I wish I could have given you a better life than I did. You did not deserve to be dragged into my selfish plans, and had I could have given you a better father I would have in a heartbeat. And Lady Auris…I am sorry it was my demise that made you smile again. I am sorry for my hand in your daughters' suffering…And I am sorry I was such an old fool…"_

As Joe Dark finished charging his darkness, Justek had but one thing to say and one thing to think. "If you meet a woman by the name of Auris Aurora…Tell her I am sorry for everything, Joe Dark…" Justek said, followed by him smiling and thinking to himself _"Sarajin, I shall join you soon enough, perhaps…"_ With one release of darkness ten times the size of himself, Joe Dark obliterates both Justek and the asteroid he laid down on in one fell swoop.

Nothing remained but Joe Dark in this part of space, and he was left with nothing but conflicting feelings and memories that he thought shouldn't be there. As he floated in place with his shaking hands gripped on his head, he saw visions of a woman and man who weren't who he assumed were his mother and father, and yet they were comforting him with the same warmth as the people Justek accused of being his adoptive parents. Joe Dark kneeled down in place and said "D-Damn you Justek…It can't possibly be true…What have you done to me…?"

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" In his dying moments, Justek had awakened the truth of Joe Dark's past from his locked away memories, leaving the boy angered and confused with no one to turn to but himself. All this time, the one Joe Dark had wanted to chase down and kill was his real brother, and now he was gone. What shall become of him now that he knows this? That's something for the future to tell…another time…

 **Part 6: Scars of the Sins Past**

 **THE END**


	35. Epilogue

**Epilogue: A Familiar Melody**

A midnight breeze flows over a grassy plain. A body rests in the middle of the waving grass as the light of the full moonlight bathes them. The person is currently unconscious but looked like absolute crap, with dehydrated skin and a blackened right arm. After a few seconds of this body lying down, the skin slowly starts to "fill" back up, returning to it's normal color within a few minutes time. The piercing wound in his gut also heals up completely, though the blood around the wound still remained.

The person then let out a very heavy gasp and panted a little as a cold sensation crept through his body. Then he grimaced, as a sharp throbbing pain went through his head. "Gh…Gaah!" The person groaned, stating in a rather tired voice "W-What's going on here?" Was the first thing the person said as they tried to pull themselves up onto their feet, but they could only manage a couple inches before they fell back down, realizing that they were still too weak.

"My body's aching…B-But why…?" The person had to think a little bit before he fought through the pain in his head and remembered some details "N-No…That's right…I was fighting…Justek…And I was…" The person, clearly described as Alex Whiter now, recognizes that by all means he should be dead at this moment. He raised his right arm up in front of him and watched as it healed up save for the hand, which was still covered in a cracked black layer of skin.

"W-What's going on though…Where am I? Why am I…still alive…?" That rage that seemed to be undying was gone, leaving nothing but confusion on Alex's mind. He slowly felt his strength returning and decided to try and get back onto his feet again, which he was able to do this time around in a minute. He then grabbed onto his right arm and weakly said as his eyes barely stayed opened "I can definitely feel…some elemental energy around me…It must be healing me up…"

Looking at the full moon in the sky, Alex says "…I…I must be back on Earth…Tsk…I need to find somewhere better to rest and gather my thoughts…Something doesn't feel right though…" Alex slowly begins to limp his way forward across the grass, his legs feeling as heavy as lead. It didn't take long for him to make his way over a hill and notice a small house in the distance. The lights were on even this late at night, suggesting that someone was awake. "I-I guess I could see if someone's there…" Alex remarked before making his way over to the house.

As Alex made his way over to the house, he was grimacing as he began to recall some of the things Justek said to him, and he recalled how deep his insanity was going before he was supposed to have died. "I still…remember all that clearly…Damn it…What happened to me…? Was I really that far gone…?" Alex sounded bitter at himself for what he had done, and in a way a little concerned that he had gone that insane. He pondered over this until he made it to the house and knocked on the door, where he then murmured "It just doesn't make any sense though…Justek fired those spheres at me…I saw them get very close to my body…Without the soul shields of Phoenix Form…I should have died…"

After waiting a few more seconds, Alex watches as someone slowly opens the door in front of him. It was a woman that was one foot shorter than Alex with long bright blue hair that curled a little at the end. She wore a nice black night gown and had a lithe body with little on her chest. She had an odd bracelet on her right arm, and held in her arms a couple of blanketed babies. One of the babies was crying while the other slept quietly. The woman looked Alex in the eyes and said quietly in concern "Oh dear…You don't look too well."

Alex looked the woman in the eyes and for some reason found himself having a hard time saying anything, until the words just slipped out of his mouth in the form of "I-I…I'm lost…I'm battered and lost with no idea where I am and who I should turn to…I'm sorry if I'm being a bother ma'am, but I just need somewhere to relax and heal…" The woman, surprisingly, smiled warmly and said to Alex "You are more than welcome to stay here, and I-"

The crying baby starts getting louder, and after a brief flinch the woman whispers "Give me a moment, sorry about this…" She then turned around and quickly began to whistle a tune nice and slowly, the melody being enough to soothe the upset baby within a matter of seconds. But Alex was also affected by the melody, and he said in a stuttering quietness "T-T-That's…Mozart…" He recognized the tune and began shifting his eyes around, looking inside of the house and realizing that it looked exactly where he used to live.

"But…But that's impossible…" Alex said, stammering at the mouth as he looked at the woman in front of him, who was becoming much less mysterious by the second and scarily familiar. Alex widened his eyes as his heart began to race, and he murmured out the words that he never thought he'd have to say again "M-M-Mother…?" The woman glanced over her right shoulder with a warm smile and said gently "Welcome home, son."

Alex reeled back a little and nearly fell onto his back, and as everything swirled inside of his head he panted a bit and said "T-This is impossible…! But if you're here…And one of those babies are…Wait…Wait…There's two babies, but that means I have a sibling and…But you can't be alive and…And…" As headaches plague Alex's mind, he suddenly realizes what could have caused all of this and swiftly reaches for his pocket, pulling out the Gaia Temporis and giving it a frightened stare while remarking "W-Why have you done this…? Just what the hell even are you…?!"

 _To be continued…_

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

And that's the end of Part 6. We've come a long way from the very beginning of the series, and as much as I'd like to keep moving forward, there's a story that must told in the past of Clash of the Elements. So come around the beginning of February, Part 4.5 will begin, showing the story of what happened with Alex Whiter and Shina Aurora.

Like Part 4, Part 4.5 will have the two traveling across video game worlds. I'll reveal those after the prologue has been uploaded all the way, but the prologue itself will actually be Mario focused...With actual Mario characters, not primarily OCs with some video game characters from other series' thrown in. I wish allowed you to list more than one crossover but whatever. So yeah, see you in February.


End file.
